Article Analysis On Synesthesia

The next time someone says, “I feel your pain”, they might be speaking in literal terms. But, suppose you ask a co-worker what day it is and they reply, “Yellow”. People such as these likely have synesthesia, a condition where they taste sounds, see words in color and/or feel other people’s feelings.

Dzevdet Smajlovic, professor from the Department of Neurology at the University of Tuzla in Bosnia stated that

Synesthesia is when any two or more senses of the human body or perceptual pathways are linked. When one sense is activated so is another. So when you are eating, you may feel as if you are tasting a color instead, or when you see a color you may think of a shape. It affects 1 out of 2,000 peopled believed to be genetic, it is demonstrated more commonly in females and individuals who are left handed. Synesthesia is not diagnosed as a disease, those affected usually have average intelligence and no greater risk of mental disorders.

I read the article, “Secrets of the Brain”, found in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic written by Carl Zimmer. I chose this subject because I have been fascinated with the brain and how it works. The research of the brain has been ongoing for many centuries now. The history in this article is interesting. It explained how scientists used to understand the brain and its inner workings. For example, “in the ancient world physicians believed that the brain was made of phlegm. Aristotle looked on it as a refrigerator, cooling of the fiery heart. From his time through the Renaissance, anatomists declared with great authority that our perceptions, emotions, reasoning, and actions were all the result of “animal spirits”—mysterious, unknowable vapors that swirled through cavities in our head and traveled through our bodies.” (Zimmer, p. 38)

Everything is normal. No decaying gray matter, no basal ganglia deficits, nothing. Exhilaration flows through me as the answer races through my mind.

Sound waves: Changes in pressure caused by molecules of air or fluid colliding and moving apart again.

Scientists started to "explore the concept that regions in our brain once thought to activate only our own activity or sensations are also firing what are known as mirror neurons, when we witness someone else perform

Synesthesia, or the blending of senses, is used very powerfully in this Lakota story. While the coyote is on Iktomi’s back he begins to “blue wink”. This intrigues the audience, as most have not heard of a blue wink before. The story then goes on to describe the origin of the phrase, creating a lesson about not being too prideful, within the lesson that encompasses the entire story. The use of synesthesia brings this lesson sandwich home by providing an interesting way of describing these prideful or childish moments, ensuring that the lesson will be remembered. Memorability is a goal of any trickster story as the primary motive is to impart

On a very rare occasions, there is a late onset on adults. Recently discovered to cause intellectual and

In the paper "Epiphenomenal Qualia," Frank Jackson presents the concept of Qualia and the knowledge argument in order to prove physicalism false. Jackson 's knowledge argument introduces a thought experiment about a neuroscientist called Mary. His thought experiment is designed to refute physicalism by showing that there is non-physical knowledge in the world. However, there are many flaws in Jackson 's thought experiment that lead to its ultimate failure in proving that physicalism is wrong, such as its appeal to a misleading intuition, the ambiguity of its premises, and the assumption that it is possible to gain all physical knowledge of color from a colorless room.

It was based on the results from Functional magnetic resonance imaging on a CBS patient. Santhouse et al. (2000) have found from their studies that the colour of the images seen by the patients were exceptionally vivid. This can be explained by the enhanced activity within the area V4 in the fusiform gyrus, where colour processes occur in the brain (ffytche and Howard

I have a neurological condition. With only 2-4% of the human population living with this condition little research has been done on its cause, thus, there is no cure. I have a neurological condition and it is called synesthesia.

-James Gross: Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory.

Considering that it may be commonly misdiagnosed as another condition or disorder of brain dysfunction, the available literature may be a sufficient introduction to AIWS, but it is definitely not a satisfactory one. The number of case studies regarding individuals with AIWS and meta-analysis of the neurological condition is small because prevalence rates are low in the general population. Although individual case studies and case studies of a small number of individuals have provided some insight on the condition, it also limits the generalizability. Especially after reviewing Blom’s (2016) meta-analysis of a majority of the relevant case studies dated back to 1955, the 169 case studies have only scratched the surface to understand AIWS. As of late, the predominant concern of AIWS is in regards to its etiology due to its cryptogenic nature. It is unclear whether infection, migraines or another origin of symptoms is the preeminent cause, so further research on other perceptual disorders is needed to gain more insight into the individual symptoms of AIWS, such as micropsia and macropsia, if they share similar perceptual distortions. This will help facilitate treatment in addition to the association conditions of AIWS if it does happen to be malignant in nature. Even now, understandings as to why and how the brain functions in regards to optical illusions is lacking. Considering that optical illusions are easily accessible and tend to change perceptions of objective reality in a majority of the general population, relevant research may facilitate the understanding of perceptual processes related to AIWS and help us understand why symptoms occur in the very near

Not many people know about synesthesia. Though, this makes sense because it only effects about 2-5% of the population. Despite synesthesia not effecting many people, there is speculation on if you can train yourself to develop it. So, what is synesthesia?