Bor_SciRep_2014.pdf (587.64 kB)
Adults can be trained to acquire synesthetic experiences
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 19:06 authored by Daniel Bor, Nicolas Rothen, David SchwartzmanDavid Schwartzman, Stephanie Clayton, Anil SethAnil SethSynesthesia is a condition where presentation of one perceptual class consistently evokes additional experiences in different perceptual categories. Synesthesia is widely considered a congenital condition, although an alternative view is that it is underpinned by repeated exposure to combined perceptual features at key developmental stages. Here we explore the potential for repeated associative learning to shape and engender synesthetic experiences. Non-synesthetic adult participants engaged in an extensive training regime that involved adaptive memory and reading tasks, designed to reinforce 13 specific letter-color associations. Following training, subjects exhibited a range of standard behavioral and physiological markers for grapheme-color synesthesia; crucially, most also described perceiving color experiences for achromatic letters, inside and outside the lab, where such experiences are usually considered the hallmark of genuine synesthetes. Collectively our results are consistent with developmental accounts of synesthesia and illuminate a previously unsuspected potential for new learning to shape perceptual experience, even in adulthood.
Funding
Sackler Centre - donation; G0951; SACKLER-DR MORTIMER AND THERESA SACKLER FOUNDATION
CEEDS: The Collective Experience of Empathic Data Systems; G0270; EUROPEAN UNION; FP7-ICT-25879
SNSF- Swiss National Science Foundation; PBBEP1 133498
Towards a next-generation computational neuroscience; G0305; EPSRC-ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL; EP/G007543/1
SNSF; PA00P1_145370
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
Scientific ReportsISSN
2045-2322Publisher
Nature Publishing GroupExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
4Article number
a7089Department affiliated with
- Informatics Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2014-11-18First Open Access (FOA) Date
2014-11-18First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2014-11-18Usage metrics
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