synesthesia, some people perceive individual symbols, characters, numbers

zoobyshoe

Wow, I really have to re-read that book. I've forgotten masses of what was in it.

Rhody, did you mis-speak when you said the most commonly reported sense pairings were sight and touch? I remember it being sound and sight.

The low bloodflow data seems to say the cause of synesthesia is neither hyperactivation nor crossover ("crosswiring"), but the result of some normal elements of brain function being inactivated.

rhody

zoobyshoe,

You may be correct, I put that down without pinning it down in the book (one of the few places I didn't mark for facts), I will try again today, in any event we know that it is a mingling of two or more of the five senses.

To comment to your last statement, to be fair I haven't finished it yet, and there may be other extenuating circumstances. For now according to Dr Stump's and Dr Cytowic's findings the blood flow in the cereberal cortex is vastly reduced (abnormally so) at rest and even more so during stimulation which gives rise to more active response in the limbic area, that I said could not be measured with the CBF test at the time. I have to believe that up to date technology could do a better job on all fronts. I will do some research to see if more modern tests have been performed.

Rhody...

zoobyshoe

I'll let you finish your research. So far the list of pertinent information you culled from the book looks excellent.

Frame Dragger

Rhody, that was actually quite cheering to read, and Zooby already hit the high notes there. You've taken a very complex subject and dissected it nicely given that you're mid-stream! I would add one element, but not a correction: All of this illustrates the plasticity of the human brain (especially in the very young), and the relativity of perception, but also that imaging has limits not just based on the technology, but what it is a researcher is looking for.

StarkRG

rhody, zoobyshoe: I seem to recall that it was taste and sight. In other words letters, numbers, shapes, and other symbols can not only have color but a flavor too.

Then again, maybe I was thinking of quarks...

Frame Dragger

I can settle this: it's Grapheme -> Colour which is most common, or believed to be.

http://www.bu.edu/synesthesia/faq/index.html

HOWEVER... that is most commonly reported, discovered, etc. That may be due to the primary role of vision in humans. In other words, there may be a major sampling (and other) biases.

StarkRG

Ooh, I dunno if I'd say vision is primary unless you're talking about what we notice consciously. Smell has a much more direct connection with memories (sound too, but less so). The difference is that it smell is a little more subconscious than sight.

Frame Dragger

This isn't one of those "maybes". Human beings are sight-primary, compared to saaaay, dogs, which primarily rely on scentt. This isn't to say we can't smell, but we do not navigate our world by it. As for the memories, scent-memory is there, but limited, and visual cues are FAR more effective than auditory cues in humans.

Compared to most other mammals we have VERY acute vision, and very poor hearing and sense of smell. The connection to memory is not relelvant to sight's primacy.

waht

An interesting short clip on synesthesia. The subject's favorite dish is chicken with ice-cream because it looks good literally.

Frame Dragger

*throws up a little* Yes, that is truly intersting, but um... BLEGH!

waht

Gives a whole new meaning of synesthesia as a "gift."

Frame Dragger

Oh yeah, the one that keeps on giving and leaves a funny taste in your mouth. That said, objectively, he enjoys the chicken and ice-cream so... who am I to judge? That said... I am going to have a very LIGHT dinner with this in mind.

rhody

waht,

I know the video was a short one, I wonder if Dr Eagleman is aware of those who blazed the trail before him, in this case Dr Cytowic, who not only tested the patients in his book, but ran the CBF tests (and others I haven't reported on yet) to determine where it occurs in the brain.

Second, if you look at item 15 in my list, and you are of drinking age and do drink and wouldn't mind answering the question, does alcohol enhance the effects of the condition, do the sensations become more vivid, intense, etc... Only answer if you are comfortable with the question, I don't want to pressure you in any way.

Third, reading more of the book today, the test subject whose blood flow was vastly reduced did not have any underlying condition that could have caused it, no lesions, cancer etc... I hope this puts your mind at ease at bit.

Thanks...

Rhody...

waht

He's a researcher so I suppose he must have studied everything on the subject.

No pressure taken. But to answer your question, I really don't know what the effects of alcohol had been because I never thought about observing this behavior under the influence, and also most of it is hard to recall


It's pretty fascinating. Needless to say, I'll pick up this book sometime this week.

fuzzyfelt

Cytowic and Eagleman co-authored "Wednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia".

rhody

A good collection of synesthasia links here including Cytowic's personal website: scroll down, under: Synaesthesia researchers heading.

Don't have a chance to browse any of them (in detail) now. For review and comment if you wish. Info supplied here pretty much indicates, at least to me, that this thread has plenty of life in it, even after review of Cytowic's book.

Rhody...

khz

Sorry for deviating from wherever the discussion has led to, but I have voluntary synesthesia resulting from one time marijuana use. That is, I can turn off the lights whilst listening to music, and I can have mild visual pattern/colour correlative hallucinations that conform to any changes to the music. It's AWESOME! I'm not scared of psychosis or anything because I just see it as my visual cortex getting too much electricity or blood or whatever resulting from my expectation of mild hallucinations to start (remember, it's totally voluntary). I'm curious as to how this was 'unlocked' in me though.