Synesthesia (from the Greek synáisthesis - feeling, simultaneous sensation, antonym to the concept of "anesthesia" - the absence of any sensations) - a feature human perception, characterized by the fact that the response of the sense organs to the stimulus is accompanied by other, additional sensations or images. One example of manifestation is sound associations when perceiving a color. This phenomenon is not so rare, but often the same tonality in different people can cause completely different color representations.

By the nature of the additional sensations that appear, they distinguish the following types synesthesia:

• visual (photisms);
• auditory (phonisms);
• taste;
• tactile and so on

Synesthesia can occur both selectively, i.e. only on certain impressions, and extend to almost all sensations of the senses. The most relevant study of this phenomenon was at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. At that time, not only psychologists and doctors, but also people of art became interested in this phenomenon. Then the phenomenon of synesthesia made the musician A. Scriabin think about "synthetic art", where each musical key would correspond to a certain color (symphonic poem "Prometheus", 1910). At the same time, French symbolists (Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, Charles Baudelaire) created the famous sonnets dedicated to sounds and colors. Many writers, poets and artists can be referred to as "synaesthetics", although at first glance they seem very different: V. Kandinsky and L. Tolstoy, M. Tsvetaev and M. Gorky, V. Nabokov and K. Balmont, B. Pasternak and A. Voznesensky.

"Synesthetic" associations can sometimes be very unpredictable and fantastic, and sometimes even "supernatural". So people, at first glance, no different from the rest, sometimes categorically assert that individual words, letters and numbers have their own innate colors, and often even many years are not able to change this opinion in them.

In 1996, Simon Baron-Cohen, along with other employees University of Cambridge found that about one person out of two thousand has such "hard" associations, and most likely it can be transmitted genetically, by inheritance. However, other data claim that 1 out of 25 thousand people has such features. By the way, there are much more female synesthetics than males: in the USA by 3 times, and in England by 8 times. Such people are mostly left-handed, or they are equally good at both right and left hands. Synesthetics are not particularly strong in mathematics, are often scattered and are worse than others in orienting themselves in space.

New study by Megan Steven from Oxford University proved that although the role of genes in synesthesia remains leading, this phenomenon cannot be determined by genetics alone. Steven and her colleagues studied 6 synesthetic people who were blind in adulthood and found that three of them had such abilities after they were completely blind. So, after losing sight, one of them began to consider all days, months, letters and sounds "painted" in certain colors, and the other began to see various images in front of him with sounds and smells.

Baron-Cohen agrees that the formation of this phenomenon is influenced not only by genes, but also by the environment, Environment. But he believes that you still need to learn to distinguish the true from the false. So, for example, you should not consider the color of a patient who has gone blind for 5 days as synesthesia, because they only resemble this phenomenon externally.

Anesthesia (insensibility) is the opposite of the word synesthesia, in which a person receives several sensations when only one analyzer is irritated. As you know, human sensitivity is determined by five analyzers, each of which is responsible for certain sensations:

• visual;
• auditory;
• Olfactory;
• Taste;
• Tactile.

The sixth analyzer is scattered throughout the body at the points of attachment of muscle tendons to the skeleton and is called proprioceptive. However, the "sixth sense" does not apply to synesthesia. Propriorceptive sensations are regulated vestibular apparatus, while all other analyzers are influenced by the limbic system. It is located in the hippocampus - the so-called "olfactory brain". This is the very first gyrus in the cerebral cortex, which are united by the corpus callosum. This is a kind of bridge between the left and right halves of the brain. Manifestations of synesthesia indicate a violation of synchrony between the hemispheres of the brain. Therefore, a synesthetic person, most often, equally owns the right and left hand. It can be called a hidden left-hander, but more correctly, nevertheless, a station wagon.

Types of synesthesia

When, upon stimulation of one of the analyzers, a person has clear associations with another, this phenomenon is called synesthesia, that is, it indicates the connection of two completely different sensations.

According to the nature of additional sensations, synesthesia is divided into the following types:

• Visual (photisms);
• Auditory (phonisms);
• Taste;
• Olfactory;
• Tactile.

The most common form of synesthesia is the color scheme in the mental representation of an object. For example, the number "one" for a synesthetic is represented by black, and the number "two" is purple.

Auditory synesthesia is characterized by associations of sounds with certain colors. A person listens to classical music and imagines it in colors.

Taste synesthesia is characterized by the perception of an object or even a subject in relation to a certain taste. A person associates the sun with sugar, although he himself cannot explain the logical chain between these objects. And, most importantly, after many years, the sensations of synesthesia remain the same. Therefore, the appeal: “You are my sweetie!” - in relation to the baby for the synesthetic is not a single impression. Any child for such a person will always be associated with a sensation of sweetness on the tongue.

The phenomenon of synesthesia

The main characteristics of true synesthesia, in contrast to the false one, are involuntary occurrence and complete uncontrollability by consciousness. If a person sees the number "one" as black, and the number "two" as purple. That number twelve will be colored with a black and purple stripe. Two hundred and twelve, respectively, will have two purple stripes, and between them - black. And no other associations will appear, regardless of the will of the synesthetist. The image can change only by the intensity of color, which depends on emotional mood person.

The phenomenon of synesthesia is always constant, due to the formation of a stable pair: “stimulus - synesthetic image”. If rain noise appears orange, it will never be perceived as yellow or red.

false synesthesia

Pseudo-synesthesia is never inherited, unlike true synesthesia. Moreover, it is caused by certain factors.

The false phenomenon of synesthesia has very specific reasons:

• Taking hallucinogens. Under the influence of hashish or LSD, a person experiences distortions in perception. The addict also "hears colors" or "recognizes sounds by smell". But with the next dose, all his feelings can change dramatically. What he perceived as blue becomes green for some reason, and so on;
• Damage to the hippocampus. A brain tumor or injury leads to olfactory hallucinations that do not have a specific connection with each other. All sounds "smell" the same, differing only in intensity. Pathology cannot be called synesthesia;
• Rooted associations by type conditioned reflex. When a person hears the signal for dinner, he smells the kitchen. Or the sound of an alarm clock is reminiscent of mint toothpaste - associations remembered from early childhood.

True synesthesia does not require additional stimulants, training to consolidate the conditioned reflex and childhood memories.

Synesthesia in psychology

The phenomenon of synesthesia in psychology defines people who have the ability to clearly bind objects with the help of two or more senses, gifted individuals. Not necessarily, these must be outstanding talents or geniuses, but, of course, people with a phenomenal memory.

The hypothesis about the connection between memory and synesthesia was tested by the following experiment. The examined woman was presented with matrices consisting of 50 digits. The subject, without hesitation, copied from memory on a sheet of paper all the numbers that were shown to her for several seconds. Moreover, after 48 hours, she repeated the test with the same result, without looking again at the presented numbers in the matrix. Experience explains why synesthesia helps to remember unfamiliar and unrelated objects. For each number, the woman had her own color scheme, which was remembered as a picture. Similar works art is written by abstract artists. Perhaps synesthesia in psychology will someday explain to people how such pictures should be perceived.

Synesthesia and psychiatry

The phenomenon of synesthesia is known to psychiatrists from late XIX century. Many people have been studied, including, famous writers, composers, artists. With the exception of heightened emotionality, no mental disorders was not found. The incidence among individuals with the ability to synesthesia was at the same level in the general population.

Each person has certain mental disorders. No, this does not mean that everyone around is crazy. You can't be 100% normal. strange habits, tastes, interests - all this makes a person different from others. Right now in modern world, "if you're not weird, you're weird" is a very popular expression in popular culture.

Synesthesia is a very interesting phenomenon. This is a designation for a unique syndrome, which consists in expanded perception. About what is synesthesia, what does it mean this concept, and what types of synesthesia exist, will be discussed in this article.

At earlier stages of the development of society, the presence of a deviation could be perceived by others with extreme hostility. The pronounced oddities of the individual could be perceived ordinary people as a threat to society. This led to the fact that any oddities - both positive and negative - were often hidden by their owners because of their desire not to pay for special mental abilities or strange mental deviations.

On the this moment the eccentricity of the individual is no longer condemned by society. Specialists undertake to correct deviations, carefully examining their nature and symptoms. Strange habits and character traits are of particular interest to specialists in the field of psychology.

What is Synesthesia - Definition

The very word "synesthesia" has Greek origin and translated means " mixed perception". According to conventional wisdom, synesthesia is a truly unique syndrome, the essence of which is expressed in the fact that Multiple senses can respond to a single stimulus. The owners of such an interesting syndrome may have associations with various images when listening to a certain melody due to the existing peculiarity of the psyche, adjust colors in the mind to sounds.

The antonym of the word "synesthesia" can be called a fairly well-known concept of "anesthesia" (absence of sensations). Synesthesia is a process of perception that involves stimulation of a particular sense organ, but at the same time, the emergence of a perception related to another sensitive organ is noted. Simply put, it is the process of various associations that can mix and synesthesize. People prone to this phenomenon have the opportunity not only hear sounds, but also see them.

Synesthesia is the opposite of anesthesia, in which there is a lack of irritability as a reaction to the manifestation external factors and events. The owners of this syndrome cannot show such abilities, which are a consequence of the presence of synesthesia. Everyone knows that a person is able to use five different sensory organs, each of which is responsible for certain sensations:

• visual;
• olfactory;
• taste;
• auditory;
• tactile.

Psychologists are convinced that synesthesia is a result of a malfunction of the hemispheres of the brain. That is why it can be noted interesting ability synesthetics, which consists in the presence of unique motor skills of the hands. In other words, people with this syndrome are equally good at both right and left hands. This is their versatility.

Recognition of synesthesia and its varieties

The term itself appeared relatively recently. But do not assume that the phenomenon itself began to manifest itself only now. Its existence has been known since ancient times. primitive people did not share colors and sounds, performing their special ritual dances. And at the end of the nineteenth century, the syndrome described in this article became quite popular in the cultural sphere.

People who were gifted were able to combine sounds and colors, as well as combine visual and taste sensations. Thus, artists could receive inspiration in simple situations, synthesizing the received impressions and sensations into subsequent creations.

But synesthesia was popular not only among artists. She was actively interested in doctors who really saw the importance of researching this unique syndrome. Modern medicine has divided synesthetic impulses into several varieties:

The study of synesthesia by psychologists

Medicine has been and is studying such a phenomenon as synesthesia. Specialists clearly define individuals who are able to connect images or objects through several senses at once. It was mentioned above that synesthetes include creative personalities. But this is an optional moment. Artists and musicians may not always be synesthetes, but sometimes there are real unique people among these people.

Synesthesia sometimes endows some of its owners with phenomenal memory. The proof of such an interesting point was obtained by specialists after a series of experiments that were able to demonstrate that in some cases synesthetes really have this quality.

For example, consider a study in which the subject was a woman. She was shown matrices, each containing 50 digits. She got acquainted with the proposed data, and then rewrote them on a piece of paper. Two days later, the same test was duplicated. The results were similar. According to psychologists, the woman was able to demonstrate such results due to the fact that when contemplating the numbers, the corresponding associations appeared in her head.

Synesthesia in psychiatry

This term began to be used in psychiatry in the nineteenth century. For a more thorough study of this phenomenon, poets, composers, artists and writers were studied by specialists in the field of psychiatry. After the studies, psychiatrists concluded that no mental abnormalities were found, which made it possible to assert that synesthesia is not a disease.

Notable synesthetes

For the sake of interest, you can provide information about which of the famous and popular personalities was a synesthete.

It should be noted that synesthesia can be inherited. A prime example this is the son of Nabokov - his direct descendant. It is generally accepted that Nabokov and his wife were synesthetes. Their son also subsequently adopted this phenomenon.

Also, in addition to the above personalities, one can name quite a few writers who were also representatives of such unusual people. Among these were those who did not miss the opportunity to mention such a phenomenon in their works - Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine. From domestic writers can be identified Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, Balmont and others. Also, world-famous composers can serve as examples - Scriabin and Rimsky-Korsakov. They were also synesthetes. The unique case is the case with Daniel Tammet. This synesthete became famous for his incredible ability to quickly count huge numbers, as well as speak eleven languages.

An image can sound, music can be an image. Black letters can have color, and numbers can line up in an intricate pattern. Each day of the week and each month can be painted in its own color, each touch can evoke a certain emotion.

These are not just fantasies or poetic metaphors, but examples of synesthesia, one of the most unusual neurological phenomena. AT literal translation from the Greek "synesthesia" - the fusion of feelings. It usually seems to us that sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing are completely different and separate ways of perceiving the reality of the world around us. We do not confuse the smell of bacon with the letter "at" and we don't talk about Sabbath-colored berries. But there are people whose sensory world does not fit into this idea. Moreover, there is reason to believe that we are all such people, and synesthesia lies at the very basis of human language and thinking.

A few days ago Scottish Lisa DeBruine published on Twitter, an animated picture that quickly went viral on the Internet. Three high-voltage transmission towers play jump rope: two swing the wires, and the third jumps, shaking the screen with each landing. The picture is not accompanied by an audio recording, but when watching the animation, many hear a dull sound, which is heard from the impact of the tower on the ground. Where does this sound come from if we don't "really" hear it?

The fact is that perception, as the philosopher Gaston Bachelard said, is not so much a picture as a story. We hear and see what we are used to seeing and hearing: the brain complements our real perception(e.g. jumping towers) already known knowledge(for example, the sound of a fall). This is one of the main signs of synesthesia: feelings are not isolated from each other, but merge into a unity generated by our brain.

Most of us have synesthesia in a hidden and subdued way. But for some people, the world, thanks to this feature, looks in a completely unusual way.

Saturday color berries

When the composer Franz Liszt became a bandmaster in Weimar, he surprised the musicians of the orchestra unusual approach to the arrangement. “Oh, please, gentlemen, a little more blue! This tonality demands it! It’s rich purple here, no need to go pink!” At first, the musicians thought he was joking. But Liszt did not have an eccentric sense of humor, but a kind of synesthesia, in which music not only sounds, but is also seen in a certain color.

The writer Jacques Lusseirand, remembered by Oliver Sacks in his book Musicophilia, lost his sight at the age of seven. After that, music acquired new characteristics for him. By this time, he had already begun to play the cello, but the sounds became so saturated for him that he had to give up the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bbecoming a musician.

Jacques Lusseyran

writer, hero French Resistance, synesthete

At concerts, the orchestra turned into a painter. He flooded me with all the colors of the rainbow. If a solo violin entered, I began to see a golden fire with such a bright red tint that I had never seen on any real subject. When it was the turn of the oboe, I was enveloped green color. It was so cold that I began to clearly feel the breath of the night.

For Wassily Kandinsky, who tried to convey in his paintings a synesthetic fusion of sound and color, “red cinnabar sounds like a tuba, orange sounds like medium size church bell". He wrote, "Color is the keyboard, eyes are the hammers, and the soul is a piano with many strings." His "Impression III", painted after attending a Schoenberg concert, depicts the very matter of sound that floods the hall with yellow broad strokes.

One of the most common types of synesthesia is grapheme-color, in which individual letters are painted in various colors. Perhaps its most famous owner is Vladimir Nabokov. The very language of his work is synesthetic, built on consonances, unusual metaphors, playing around with the sound of words. In one of the interviews, he answers the question about the colors of his own initials:

Vladimir Nabokov

writer, entomologist, synesthete

"V" - a pale, transparent pink shade; seems to technical language this is called quartz pink. And "N", in turn, is the grayish-yellow color of oatmeal.

A person who has this kind of synesthesia is no doubt aware that the letters in front of him are black, not yellowish gray or pink. The "real" color exists, as it were, separate from the "imaginary", and does not merge with it. So, if a person sees a blue “M” in front of him, which in his mind looks pink, it will not become purple for him due to the overlay effect. Colors do not mix, as if in watercolor, but are perceived simultaneously with each other.

This is why synesthesia is so different from, for example, color blindness. colorblind effect genetic mutation has an incomplete set of cone receptors. Therefore, he confuses green with red or blue with yellow: the colors do not reach from nerve fibers to the visual cortex, so the world for a color blind person loses certain tones. Synesthesia is a completely different matter.

Two individual people synesthetic associations very rarely coincide. In the Nabokov family, where everyone had grapheme-color synesthesia, there was not the slightest agreement on what color each individual letter of the alphabet had.

But why then does synesthesia occur? It has long been noted that one of the reasons is heredity: the same ability to "fusion of feelings" is often passed down from generation to generation. But if synesthesia acquires different forms, then at least importance should have individual childhood experiences.

Magnetic letters and baby Rousseau

For a long time, scientists could not understand not only the causes of synesthesia, but also whether it even existed. The ability to see sounds or hear colors was attributed to madness or heightened imagination. One of the first (in 1883) to draw attention to synesthesia was Francis Galton, who was not only cousin Charles Darwin, but also an outstanding explorer. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a great interest in synesthesia among psychologists, but then there was a long lull. This phenomenon could not be described by existing scientific methods, so they preferred to forget about it, putting it in the same rubric as divination and telekinesis.

Interest in synesthesia only revived in the 1990s. Special tests have been devised that allow synesthetes to be distinguished from people with normal perception. Using fMRI machines, scientists have studied the relationship between the brain and synesthesia. If we were able to put Franz Liszt in a tomograph and turn on the music, we would see how his visual cortex is activated, as if he really sees colored whirlwinds and explosions in front of him, and not just imagines them.

In 2015, one of the main researchers of synesthesia, David Eagleman, organized a study that was supposed to establish whether there is something in common behind its various manifestations. To do this, he tested among 6,588 people who passed the grapheme-color test with a positive result. They were asked to color english alphabet as they see it, offering a choice of 12 tones so that information can be summarized. In the resulting huge data array, scientists began to look for patterns.

It turned out that the vast majority of people see individual letters in a certain color: BUT- red, D- green, E- blue. Here is the only reasonable explanation, which the researchers managed to find: the vast majority of participants fell victim to magnets from the company "Fisher Price" designed to teach children the alphabet. These sets first appeared in 1971 and sold millions of copies over a period of 19 years. The years and ages of the participants matched. The colors of the letters also matched: red A, green D, blue E etc. But this is just an amusing observation that says nothing about the very origins of synesthesia. this assumption: it turns out that in infancy, all people are synesthetes.

The child's brain develops rapidly and forms an excessive number of connections. Over time, these connections are interrupted, sensations spread into separate streams, between which only weak bridges are drawn. At three months of age, we are all synesthetes. After five months, most seem to lose these abilities. But in some, thanks to small genetic anomalies, they persist, and take their form at a later age. This is where the colored letters on the refrigerator and other children's associations come into play. These associations are individual, so synesthesia can manifest itself differently in two different people. But the foundation childhood experience persists even in those who have ceased to be synesthetes.

In 2001, the neuroscientist Vileyanur Ramachandran first suggested that synesthesia underlies human language and established metaphors: that is why we talk about "spicy cheese", "strong coffee" or "flashy flowers". The very appearance of language confirms the human propensity for synesthesia. Think for a moment and you will realize that calling a fluffy meowing creature "cat" or trying to express your feelings with the help of words is no less strange than considering the note "la" - blue, and Saturday - crimson.

Our feelings are not separate from each other. The very division into feelings, thoughts and sensations is a scientific abstraction. Synesthesia is our common past and present, which allows us to recall this.