About

SYNESTHESIA

A neurological condition in which two or more senses are attached. It occurs when stimuli in one sensory modality (hearing, sight, taste, pressure, smell, touch, temperature”¦) are involuntarily perceived using another sense. People with synesthesia have a relationship between the senses. The excitement of one sense stimulates the experiencing of another.

The term “˜synesthesia’ is a combination of the two Greek words “˜syn’ (which means “˜together’) and “˜aisthetis“˜ (“˜perception’) and the name literally translates into “union of the senses.”

It is hard to estimate how many people are affected by synesthesia due to the lack of standardized diagnostic tests and to the fact that many individuals might not even be aware of their condition because for them the pairing is what they have always experienced.

Estimates, therefore, vary greatly and range from 1 in 20 people to 1 in 100,000.

Women seem to be more likely to have synesthesia together with left-handed people and the condition seem to be inheritable.

The specific cause of synesthesia is still unknown. However, there are speculations that many crosstalk between the regions of the brain that are responsible of the senses functions may be the cause of several types of synesthesia.

Some researchers attribute this phenomenon to a biological cross-wiring between different areas of the brain and they believe that these connections between remote areas of the brain is present since birth.

Others seems to point at other causes, such as a disinhibited feedback processes that can also be experienced by people who don’t have synesthesia in acquired forms for example as a consequence of brain injury, epilepsy, stroke, brain tumors or under the influence of certain drugs.

Despite the existence of over 20 types of synesthesia, only a few have been discovered, studied and documented.