University of Sussex
Browse
SIMNER_Frontiers_in_Bioscience_JUL_2020_author_copy.pdf (1021.07 kB)

Wellbeing differences in children with synaesthesia: anxiety and mood regulation

Download (1021.07 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 22:19 authored by Julia SimnerJulia Simner, Rebecca SmeesRebecca Smees, Louisa RinaldiLouisa Rinaldi, Duncan A Carmichael
Synaesthesia is a neurodevelopmental trait that causes unusual sensory experiences (e.g., perceiving colours when reading letters and numbers). Our paper represents the first evidence that synaesthesia can impact negatively on children's well-being, and that there are likely to be important mental health co-morbidities for children with synaesthesia. We recruited 76 synaesthetes aged 6-10 years who had one of two types of synaesthesia (grapheme-colour synaesthesia and sequence-personality synaesthesia), and compared them to almost one thousand matched non-synaesthete controls. We tested children's wellbeing with two different measures, and found a significant relationship between synaesthesia and affect (i.e., mood), and also between synaesthesia and anxiety. Children with synaesthesia showed evidence suggesting significantly higher rates of Anxiety Disorder, and also displayed a type of mood-moderation in demonstrating fewer extremes of emotion (i.e., significantly fewer negative feelings such as fear, but also significantly fewer positive feelings such as joy). We discuss our results with reference to the emotional moderation of alexithymia (the inability to recognize or describe one's own emotions), and to a set of known links between alexithymia, anxiety, autism and synaesthesia.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Frontiers in bioscience (Elite edition)

ISSN

1093-9946

Publisher

Frontiers in Bioscience

Issue

1

Volume

13

Page range

195-215

Event location

United States

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2020-12-01

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-12-01

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2020-12-01

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC