Topic
Synesthesia
About: Synesthesia is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 780 publications have been published within this topic receiving 20298 citations. The topic is also known as: synaesthesia & synsth.
Papers published on a yearly basis
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Papers
TL;DR: The first test of synaesthesia prevalence with sampling that does not rely on self-referral, and which uses objective tests to establish genuineness is presented, and it is suggested that female biases reported earlier likely arose from (or were exaggerated by) sex differences in self-disclosure.
Abstract: Sensory and cognitive mechanisms allow stimuli to be perceived with properties relating to sight, sound, touch, etc, and ensure, for example, that visual properties are perceived as visual experiences, rather than sounds, tastes, smells, etc. Theories of normal development can be informed by cases where this modularity breaks down, in a condition known as synaesthesia. Conventional wisdom has held that this occurs extremely rarely (0.05% of births) and affects women more than men. Here we present the first test of synaesthesia prevalence with sampling that does not rely on self-referral, and which uses objective tests to establish genuineness. We show that (a) the prevalence of synaesthesia is 88 times higher than previously assumed, (b) the most common variant is coloured days, (c) the most studied variant (grapheme-colour synaesthesia)-previously believed most common-is prevalent at 1%, and (d) there is no strong asymmetry in the distribution of synaesthesia across the sexes. Hence, we suggest that female biases reported earlier likely arose from (or were exaggerated by) sex differences in self-disclosure.
600 citations
TL;DR: A neurobiological theory of synesthesia is advanced that fits within a neuroanatomical framework comprising hierarchically organized cortical sensory pathways.
573 citations
TL;DR: The results support the conclusion that this form of synaesthesia recruits some of the same mechanisms used in normal cross-modal perception rather than using direct, privileged pathways between unimmodal auditory and unimodal visual areas that are absent in most other adults.
464 citations
TL;DR: Evidence is found that increased structural connectivity is associated with the presence of grapheme-color synesthesia, and has a role in the subjective nature of synesthetic color experience.
Abstract: Diffusion tensor imaging allowed us to validate for the first time the hypothesis that hyperconnectivity causes the added sensations in synesthesia. Grapheme-color synesthetes (n = 18), who experience specific colors with particular letters or numbers (for example, 'R is sky blue'), showed greater anisotropic diffusion compared with matched controls. Greater anisotropic diffusion indicates more coherent white matter. Anisotropy furthermore differentiated subtypes of grapheme-color synesthesia. Greater connectivity in the inferior temporal cortex was particularly strong for synesthetes who see synesthetic color in the outside world ('projectors') as compared with synesthetes who see the color in their 'mind's eye' only ('associators'). In contrast, greater connectivity (as compared with non-synesthetes) in the superior parietal or frontal cortex did not differentiate between subtypes of synesthesia. In conclusion, we found evidence that increased structural connectivity is associated with the presence of grapheme-color synesthesia, and has a role in the subjective nature of synesthetic color experience.
435 citations
TL;DR: The Synesthesia Battery is devised, a unified collection of tests that demonstrate the reality of the condition, its automatic and involuntary nature, and its measurable perceptual consequences, and is freely accessible online.
421 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 19 |
| 2024 | 35 |
| 2023 | 55 |
| 2022 | 80 |
| 2021 | 28 |
| 2020 | 48 |