Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 30, 2026
10:39
3D-Neuronavigation In Vivo Through a Patient's Brain During a Spontaneous Migraine Headache
Published on: June 2, 2014
18.9K
Migraine in Synesthetes and Nonsynesthetes: A Prevalence Study
Clare N Jonas1, Paul B Hibbard2
1School of Psychology, University of East London, UK; School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, UK c.n.jonas@uel.ac.uk.
Perception
|November 13, 2015
Summary
This study found no general link between synesthesia and migraine. However, specific synesthesia types, like touch-evoked experiences, were associated with migraine with aura in women.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Synesthesia is a neurological condition where one sensory stimulus triggers a percept in another sense.
- The immune hypothesis suggests a link between synesthesia and conditions like migraine, particularly migraine with aura and grapheme-color synesthesia due to cortical hyperexcitability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between synesthesia and migraine, including migraine with aura.
- To examine if specific types of synesthesia are associated with migraine characteristics.
Main Methods:
- An online questionnaire was administered to 161 female synesthetes and 92 female non-synesthetes.
- Participants reported on their experiences with synesthesia and migraine history.
Main Results:
- No general association was found between synesthesia and migraine, or between grapheme-color synesthesia and migraine with aura.
- Exploratory analysis revealed associations between certain synesthetic inducers (visual, scent, taste, emotion, personality) and visual disturbances in headache.
- Touch as a concurrent synesthetic experience was linked to migraine with aura.
Conclusions:
- The study suggests that a general link between synesthesia and migraine is unlikely.
- Specific subtypes of synesthesia may be related to particular migraine characteristics.
- Further research is needed to clarify the complex relationship between synesthesia and migraine.
Related Concept Videos
01:27Synesthesia
870
Synesthesia is a remarkable condition where stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with synesthesia experience a blending or crossing of their senses, such as sight and sound, leading to cross-modal sensations. In this condition, the stimulation of one sense, such as hearing a number or musical note, triggers an experience of another sense, like sensing a specific color, taste, or smell. People...
870
01:24Local Anesthetics: Differential Sensitivity of Nerve Fibers
1.7K
Local anesthetics (LAs) block the sodium channels of nerve trunks, sensory nerve endings, and neuromuscular junctions. Although LAs can block all kinds of nerves, the sensitivity of nerve fibers differs according to nerve types and structures. LAs are known to block myelinated fibers faster than unmyelinated ones. Also, they block pain or sensory neurons at low concentrations without affecting the motor neurons involved in muscle contractions. This helps relieve labor pain without affecting the...
1.7K