Sunday, April 26, 2009

Crossing Of the Senses

Summary: Bradley describes the two main types of Synesthesia as two sensory or multiple sensory. She also explains that synesthesia can be idiopathic or non-idiopathic.
Idiopathic synesthesia is when it occurs naturally and genetically within the first four months of life. Non-idiopathic synesthesia is when it occurs from seizures, drugs, neuron degeneration, brain damage, spinal cord damage, and concussions. People with synesthesia cannot hold back from what they are see, hearing, or tasting. Most synesthetes have high IQ’s and do not struggle in school. It’s common for people with synesthesia to report frequent experiences with déjà vu, clairvoyance, premonitions, the felling of a presence, and precognitive dreams. It’s also very likely that a person with synesthesia has an immediate family member with autism, dyslexia, or attention deficit disorder.

Connection: This article is very informational about synesthesia. Ill be able to use this very well for the research project. "A red rings louder in your eye and a taste of blue lingers at your fingertips. You have a neighbor whose consistently green voice grates against his consistently deep blue suit. Nobody seems to understand. There are things you hear, things that you touch - that you cannot talk about. You don't believe yourself to be mad, or if you are, you no longer believe in what the word implies. You don't believe you're hallucinating...hallucinations should make less sense. This...this is an abundance of sense. " - Omar Kamel. Id really like to use this quote because it will “normal” people how a synesthetic brain works and retrieves information.

Bradley, Cheryl Lynne. "Synesthesia: The Crossing of the Senses." Tarot Canada. 02 Jan 2006. 10 Apr 2009 .

Brain Changes

Summary: Most brain changes are harmful but with synesthesia it is hardly life threatening. Synesthesia is a cross wiring of the brain which cause the senses in the brain to mix. It makes the person see musical notes as colors and taste spoken words or objects. About 1 in 2000 people have this disorder so it is very rare. Synesthesia is genetic and is passed from the parent to the child. Color information is analyzed in the brain’s temporal lobe, which also deal with the physical form of numbers. Brain imaging confirms that people with the disorder who are shown numbers on a blank page see the numbers in different colors. Ramachandran, a famous neurologist created a test for synesthesia. He shows the patients a white board full of black 5’s. A normal person would see just black 5’s and 2’s. A person with the disorder would see the 5’s and 2’s in two different colors, making it very easy to tell apart. People with synesthesia are born with more brain cells than needed. A period of pruning happens and only the brains cells you need and use survive.

Connection: This article is very helpful because it shows how rare this disorder actually is. It explains in little detail what the disorder is. It describes what’s going on in the brain when a person with synesthesia is seeing sound or tasting objects or spoken words. The article explains what causes the disorder. It tells that this disorder is genetic. So if you have it then your children will most likely have the disorder as well.

"Synaesthesia." Your amazing brain. 2008. UK Synaesthesia Association. 6 Apr 2009

Synesthesia

Summary: Synesthesia refers to a special sort of sensory experience that combines a specific sensation with something else. It occurs in many distinct forms, such as sound-to-color- which sounds are both heard and seen and given attributes like color, texture, shape, location, or movement., another form is smell-to-sound which is when an odorant are experiences as both smells and sounds like pitch and loudness. Synesthesia is has two parts to it, the concurrent is the sensation that is synthetically trigger, such as color, and the inducer is that which induces the concurrent, such as a letter of the alphabet. Experiences fall into two categories, such as synthetic perception and synthetic conception. Synthetic perception is triggered by sensory inducers and synthetic conception is triggered by concepts. There are three origins of Synesthesia: developmental, acquired, and drug-induced. Developmental runs in the family, acquired is shown to be cause by strokes or brain tumors, and drug-induced is experienced by taking a certain type of drug that gives you synesthesia- like characteristics.

Connection: This article is very informational and will definitely help me with my research project. It explains more of understanding what the disorder is and what the difference is between the three origins of synesthesia. It shows differences between synthetic perception and conception in synesthesia.

Gorssenbacher, Dr.. "What Is Synesthesia?." Naropa. 2008. Naropa University. 6 Apr 2009