A neural condition that tangles the senses so that people hear colors and taste words could yield important clues to understanding how the brain is organized, according to a new review study.
This sensory merger, called synesthesia, was first scientifically documented in 1812 but was widely misunderstood for much of its history, with many experts thinking the condition was a form of mild insanity.
“It’s not just that the number two is blue, but two is also a male number that wears a hat and is in love with the number seven,” said study co-author David Brang, of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
“We’re not sure if these personifications are [also a symptom of] synesthesia, but we think this is what derailed a lot of scientists from being interested in it. … They thought these people were making it all up.”
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Over the past 30 years, though, a growing body of evidence has shown that synesthesia has a physical basis—for example, the brains of synesthetes are wired differently, and the condition is highly heritable, which indicates there is a genetic component.
In fact, the study authors think it’s possible such a strange phenomenon has survived in an evolutionary sense because it offers people certain benefits to creative thinking.
“Ninety-five to ninety-nine percent of synesthetes love their synesthesia and say it enhances their lives,” Brang said. …
Synesthesia a Boon to Creativity?
Studies today indicate that synesthesia is about seven times more common in artists, poets, and novelists than in the rest of the population, and some scientists have hypothesized that synesthetes are better at linking unrelated ideas.
“We worked with a novelist years ago who swore that her synesthesia helped her pick metaphors,” Brang said. “She said she would know what color a word should be even before she knew what the word was.”
Some savants with synesthesia have been known to perform amazing feats of memorization, such as remembering the value of pi to 22,514 digits. Other synesthetes are able to distinguish between very similar colors or have a heightened sense of touch. …
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