ABSTRACT

Synesthesia is a fairly rare phenomenon in which the subject in contact with certain stimulus in one modality experiences unusual extra sensations in other modalities, such as seeing or feeling colours while listening to music or personifying of letters and numbers. The phenomenon was long perceived to be merely a product of imagination and associations. Latest research, however, is based on a multidisciplinary approach, which includes first-hand synesthetic reports, neuroimaging and behavioural tests used in confirming and explaining the phenomenon’s presence as well as its neurophysiological foundations. This article presents an overview of such investigations through the lens of cognitive and psychophysical paradigms, neural models and genetic studies of synesthesia.

KEY WORDS

synesthesia, research methods, cognitive, introspective reports, neural

CLASSIFICATION

APA:	2320, 2340, 2380, 2510, 2520, 2630
JEL:	D81, D83