Synesthesia:
Crossed Responses to Inducers and Who is Affected
Sylveria McCue
Red Rocks Community College Abstract
Synesthesia is a condition where the brain crosses the signals from the five senses resulting in letters, numbers, and words having colors, tastes having the feeling or vision of shapes in a synaesthetes mind, and sounds including physical responses of pain or pleasure. Acute studies on grapheme-color synesthesia provides the most research on who has this condition. Once believed to be a female dominant condition due to X-chromosome passed traits, research is finding that synesthesia has equal dispersion among the binary genders and are passed generationally. Recognition of the condition is derived from a synaesthete self-reporting …show more content…
Adaptations are made when a sense is disrupted by damage or inadequacies. The human body can heighten or dampen sensory response. The bodies five senses cross signals sending out a myriad of responses that result in sounds having tastes and words having colors. Synesthesia is a product of signals crossing in response to stimulation from the environment leading to automatic, involuntary and unusual experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway (Psychology Today, 2017). Results are subjective to each individual and are not predictable among …show more content…
Out of the blue, one of the students asked, "Does anyone else hear something when you look at that?" After talking to him further, I realized that his experience had all the characteristics of a synesthesia: an automatic sensory cross-activation that he had experienced all of his life. (Svitil, 2008)
Auditory-tactile synaesthetes are not exclusive to hearing only sounds. Sounds will trigger smells. Subways will smell like peanut butter and operas will smell like rotting trash.
Highly prevalent, grapheme-color synesthesia is reported to affect at least 1.39% of the population, with most reporters being female (Simner & Carmichael, 2015). A study around monozygotic male twins provides evidence supporting an equal dispersal among both binary genders (Smilek, Dixon, & Merikle, 2005). Inheritance patterns among 17 families were studied and found that if one person is diagnosed as a synaesthete, there was a 36% (Rich, Bradshaw, & Mattingley, 2005) to 44% (Simner & Ward, 2005) chance that an additional, first generation family member also had a type of synesthesia. No two-familial experience were a like and there was no predictability what type of synesthesia they would have beyond the probability of another family member having
Crossed Responses to Inducers and Who is Affected
Sylveria McCue
Red Rocks Community College Abstract
Synesthesia is a condition where the brain crosses the signals from the five senses resulting in letters, numbers, and words having colors, tastes having the feeling or vision of shapes in a synaesthetes mind, and sounds including physical responses of pain or pleasure. Acute studies on grapheme-color synesthesia provides the most research on who has this condition. Once believed to be a female dominant condition due to X-chromosome passed traits, research is finding that synesthesia has equal dispersion among the binary genders and are passed generationally. Recognition of the condition is derived from a synaesthete self-reporting …show more content…
Adaptations are made when a sense is disrupted by damage or inadequacies. The human body can heighten or dampen sensory response. The bodies five senses cross signals sending out a myriad of responses that result in sounds having tastes and words having colors. Synesthesia is a product of signals crossing in response to stimulation from the environment leading to automatic, involuntary and unusual experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway (Psychology Today, 2017). Results are subjective to each individual and are not predictable among …show more content…
Out of the blue, one of the students asked, "Does anyone else hear something when you look at that?" After talking to him further, I realized that his experience had all the characteristics of a synesthesia: an automatic sensory cross-activation that he had experienced all of his life. (Svitil, 2008)
Auditory-tactile synaesthetes are not exclusive to hearing only sounds. Sounds will trigger smells. Subways will smell like peanut butter and operas will smell like rotting trash.
Highly prevalent, grapheme-color synesthesia is reported to affect at least 1.39% of the population, with most reporters being female (Simner & Carmichael, 2015). A study around monozygotic male twins provides evidence supporting an equal dispersal among both binary genders (Smilek, Dixon, & Merikle, 2005). Inheritance patterns among 17 families were studied and found that if one person is diagnosed as a synaesthete, there was a 36% (Rich, Bradshaw, & Mattingley, 2005) to 44% (Simner & Ward, 2005) chance that an additional, first generation family member also had a type of synesthesia. No two-familial experience were a like and there was no predictability what type of synesthesia they would have beyond the probability of another family member having