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The “synaesthetic brain” works differently. Listening to sounds when seeing colors or feeling a smell when someone caresses us responds to small, very specific, yet fascinating neurological alterations. We analyze it.
See colors when listening to music. Savor ice cream and feel a caress on your cheek. Touching the petal of a flower and experiencing a sweet taste in your mouth… All of these sensory experiences describe a neurological alteration experienced by thousands of people around the world. However, what is the brain of a synesthete like? What actually explains this characteristic?
We know that figures such as Vincent Van Gogh, Vladimir Nabokov, Wassily Kandinsky or Nikola Tesla evidenced the ability to experience two senses at the same time. The truth is that for a long time it was thought that synesthesia was a characteristic of minds with a tendency to fantasy. and that there was no scientific basis to explain it.
However, with the arrival of the new millennium, neuroscientists and psychologists and even geneticists paid attention to this neurological singularity. What they have been discovering to this day is, to say the least, fascinating. We delve into it.
According to experts, synesthesia can improve cognitive abilities such as creativity and even memory. The reason for this lies in a brain that is more skilled at establishing connections.
What is synesthesia?
Let’s start by clarifying the definition of synesthesia. It is a perceptual phenomenon orchestrated by a neurological alteration. It involves the automatic and involuntary activation of several sensory or cognitive regions at the same time in response to specific stimuli. This means that sounds can have color, music has flavor, letters are associated with certain tones, etc.
Likewise, it is important to consider a series of details. Synesthesia does not respond to a hallucinatory experience, as psychiatrists Bleuler and Lehmann suspected in 1871.. It also does not define any mental disorder like schizophrenia nor is it the product of a highly imaginative mind.
We could say that the first important milestone that allowed us to understand synesthesia as a neurological phenomenon was the 1995 study led by Dr. Paulesu. In this research, different diagnostic tests were performed with positron emission tomography to measure hemodynamic responses in synesthetes.
What was discovered is something that was already suspected: the synesthetic brain works differently…
What is the synesthetic brain like?
It is estimated that between 3 to 5% percent of the population has some type of synesthesia.. Likewise, it is more common in women than in men. On the other hand, it is interesting to know that many conceive it as a gift, because seeing the world through a multiple integration of several senses at the same time makes reality more intense, peculiar and fascinating at the same time.
Not to mention another detail: It is very common for synesthetic people to be more creative and also have a greater memory because they have a brain with more connections. Studies such as those carried out by Dr. Gian Bheeli, from the University of Zurich and published in the journal Naturethey also tell us that there is a genetic basis and that on average it is hereditary.
Sounds with a sweet flavor, music that explodes with colors, textures that evoke images… If we ask ourselves what the brain of a synesthete is like, today science has already given us some interesting answers.
The phenomenon of cross activation
As we well know, children go through a period of brain development that consists of neurological pruning. That is, it is a process in which synaptic connections between neurons are eliminated to shape a more specialized brain. Until the age of 12-13, it is common to have many more neurons and synapses than are functionally necessary.. This progressive disappearance is necessary for proper brain functioning.
Now, it seems that synesthetic people do not completely complete this neuronal pruning. This causes various areas to intersect with each other. Research work such as those carried out at the University of Amsterdam (Holland) tells us that regions associated with color in the occipito-temporal cortex can suddenly connect with motor regions, so that even certain movements could evoke in the person a tonality.
It should be noted that each synesthete presents unique experiences, always based on the way their brain is wired.
The limbic mediation hypothesis
If we ask ourselves what the brain of a synesthete is like, we must take into account the hypothesis of limbic mediation. It was first stated by Richard Cytowic and Frank Wood in 1982 and indicates that synesthesia would be orchestrated by the limbic system and specifically, by the hippocampus.
It has been observed that Synesthetes have many more connective fibers in this area, which start from the limbic system itself to the neocortex.. This translates into a greater number of perceptual phenomena, sensations, memories and even emotions.
What is the synesthetic brain like? What studies reveal functional neuroimaging
As diagnostic and neuroimaging techniques have evolved, we have much more data about what the synesthetic brain is like. Thus, thanks to all the volunteers with synesthesia who have volunteered to perform the positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tests, we know the following:
The regions of the visual cortex show greater activation.There is a greater density of gray matter.High overconnectivity from the auditory cortex to the insula (This last region is related to emotions and the regulation of the body’s homeostasis).Greater interconnectivity of the whole brain compared to non-synesthetes.
To conclude, today synesthesia is a fascinating phenomenon that attracts neuroscientists and psychologists alike. It is expected that in the coming years we will know many more things, but the most important thing is that whoever shows this particularity, far from experiencing it in a problematic way, seems to enjoy his gift.
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All cited sources were reviewed in depth by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, validity and validity. The bibliography in this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
Beeli, G., Esslen, M., & Jäncke, L. (2005). Synaesthesia: when colored sounds taste sweet. Nature, 434(7029), 38.Beeli, G., Esslen, M., & Jäncke, L. (2008). Time course of neural activity correlated with colored-hearing synesthesia. Cerebral Cortex, 18(2), 379–385.Hubbard, E.M. (2007). Neurophysiology of synesthesia. Curr Psychiatry Rep, 9(3), 193–199.Hubbard, EM, & Ramachandran, VS (2005). Neurocognitive mechanisms of synesthesia. Neuron, 48(3), 509–520.Jäncke, L., Beeli, G., Eulig, C., & Hanggi, J. (2009). The neuroanatomy of grapheme-color synesthesia. Eur J Neurosci, 29(6), 1287–1293.Rouw R, Scholte HS, Colizoli O. Brain areas involved in synaesthesia: a review. J Neuropsychol. 2011 Sep;5(2):214-42. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-6653.2011.02006.x. PMID: 21923787.
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