Schwartzman, David J, Bor, Daniel, Rothen, Nicolas and Seth, Anil K (2019) Neurophenomenology of induced and natural synaesthesia. Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences, 374 (1787). pp. 1-10. ISSN 0962-8436
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Abstract
People with synaesthesia have additional perceptual experiences, which are automatically and consistently
triggered by specific inducing stimuli. Synaesthesia therefore offers a unique window into the neurocognitive
mechanisms underlying conscious perception. A long-standing question in synaesthesia research is whether it is possible to artificially induce non-synaesthetic individuals to have synaesthesia-like experiences. Although synaesthesia is widely considered a congenital condition, increasing evidence points to the potential of a variety of approaches to induce synaesthesia-like experiences, even in adulthood. Here, we summarise a range of methods for artificially-inducing synaesthesia-like experiences, comparing the resulting experiences to the key hallmarks of natural synaesthesia which include consistency, automaticity and a lack of ‘perceptual presence’. We conclude that a number of aspects of synaesthesia can be artificially induced in non-synaesthetes.
These data suggest the involvement of developmental and/or learning components to the acquisition of synaesthesia, and they extend previous reports of perceptual plasticity leading to dramatic changes in perceptual phenomenology in adults.
Item Type: | Article |
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Schools and Departments: | School of Engineering and Informatics > Informatics |
Research Centres and Groups: | Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science |
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF0311 Consciousness. Cognition > BF0495 Synaesthesia |
Depositing User: | Marianne Cole |
Date Deposited: | 11 Sep 2019 12:16 |
Last Modified: | 25 Nov 2019 16:00 |
URI: | http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/86102 |
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