At 01:02 28/01/1997 PST, you wrote:
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I received more of 20 responses to my query upon "synesthesia".
Here is a summary of their contents to be posted through CVnet.
Jean Leid.
The name of the phenomenom is synesthesia or synaesthesia.
It seems not to be a disease but a fusion of senses which occurs in about
ten of every million people.
All the sensations (sound, taste, shape) can be interested by this syndrome.
The main hypothesis is the origin of the knowledge of the alphabet. If the
child learns a letter with a colour chart, he will further assimilate the
colour to the letter.
For example, if he learns A as the A of apple and if there is a big red
apple on a chart in the schoolroom, he will merge A and RED.
The same thing can be possible within learning music notes or figures.
It is possible that it could occur a mistake in the nervous connections in
the early stages of the life.
The references on the subject are :
- LURIA A.R. The Mind of the Mnemonist.
- BARON-COHEN S., HARRISON J.E. Synaesthesia : Classic and contemporary
readings. (Eds). Oxford, Blackwell, 1997. 0-631-19764-8.
- BARON-COHEN S., WYKE M., BINNIE C. Hearing words and seeing colours : an
experimental investigation of synesthesia. Perception, 1987, 16 : 761-767.
- CYTOWIC R.E. The man who tasted shapes.
- CYTOWIC R.E. Synesthesia : a union of the sense. New York , Springer
Verlag. 1989.
- CYTOWIC R.E. Synesthesia : phenomenology and neuropsycholoy. In Psyche.
- STEIN B.E., MEREDITH M.A.. The merging of the senses. (MIT press)
Thanks to all who replied to me.
Dr Jean LEID
Dr. Jean LEID
Ophthalmologist
4 place royale
64 000 PAU
FRANCE
fax : +33 5 59 27 67 36
e-mail : Jean.Leid@wanadoo.fr