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Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which stimulation of a certain sensation leads to a simultaneous activation of another unrelated sensory pathway. For example, some synesthetes see colors when they hear sounds, while others can taste distinct flavors when they hear unrelated words. Remarkably, this involves not only the five senses, but also cognitive and mental experiences such as pattern recognition, spatial orientation or even emotions. Some forms of synesthesia involve more than two senses or experiences at a time.
In theory, there can be as many types of synesthesia as there are possible combinations of sensory or perceptual experiences, but some forms are much more common than others. These include: grapheme-to-color synesthesia, where individual letters and numbers are seen with a specific color; sound-to-color, or chromesthesia, where sounds produce colors; and spatial sequence synesthesia where elements of a sequence, such as days in a week, are assigned a specific location in a 3D arrangement around the person. It’s not uncommon for a person to experience more than one form.
Once thought to be rare, synesthesia is now estimated to be very common. The numbers are far from accurate, however, perhaps because most synesthetes have their experiences since a very young age and do not realize that anything is “unusual” until much later in life, at which point many tend to keep it a secret for fear of being different or diagnosed with mental illness. With today’s better understanding of the phenomenon, synesthetes are more likely to come forward sharing their experience. Despite being referred to as a neurological condition by some neurologists, synesthesia is not a disease; it is not associated with cognitive or mental disabilities. In fact synesthetes generally perform better in memory tests than an average person and tend to be more creative. They have built-in capabilities that are to their advantage: seeing colors when hearing musical notes can help achieve perfect pitch; automatically arranging items in space aids with memory; and having numbers color-coded can help quickly spot differences and patterns. Most synesthetes perceive their experiences as a gift rather than a handicap. Many tend to have inclination for creative, artistic professions.
A “true” synesthetic experience is automatic, involuntary and consistent over time. These experiences are the only way a synesthete perceives the world: a sound, or a letter, always gives the same color, every time without fail; and if they hear a new sound they never heard before, or see a new character they never seen before, a color will be automatically assigned to it.
Some drugs may produce synesthetic-like effects but these are not real synesthetic experience because they do not last.
Genetic make-up seems to have a role in predisposition to synesthesia as it tends to run in family, but family members can have different forms of synesthesia.
Mechanism of synesthesia is still poorly understood, but there is evidence that the cross-talk between various sensory pathways accounts for the experience. For example, with the help of brain imaging techniques, the brain V4 region responsible for color recognition can be seen activated when a sound-to-color synesthete is presented with auditory stimuli. Synesthetes also seem to have more grey matter in the implicated brain areas, as well as more white matter connecting them.
There is a theory that we are all born synesthetic, with all the connections between senses, but lose them, together with synesthetic ability, as our brain matures, while synesthetes retain it. This may explains why most people still have some degree of synesthesia as adults.