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Enhanced sensory perception in synaesthesia

Experimental Brain Research volume 196, pages 565–571 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Previous findings imply that synaesthetic experience may have consequences for sensory processing of stimuli that do not themselves trigger synaesthesia. For example, synaesthetes who experience colour show enhanced perceptual processing of colour compared to non-synaesthetes. This study aimed to investigate whether enhanced perceptual processing was a core property of synaesthesia by contrasting tactile and colour sensitivity in synaesthetes who experience either colour, touch, or both touch and colour as evoked sensations. For comparison the performance of non-synaesthetic control subjects was also assessed. There was a relationship between the modality of synaesthetic experience and the modality of sensory enhancement. Synaesthetes who experience colour have enhanced colour sensitivity and synaesthetes who experience touch have enhanced tactile sensitivity. These findings suggest the possibility that a hyper-sensitive concurrent perceptual system is a general property of synaesthesia and are discussed in relation to theories of the condition.

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Acknowledgments

MJB is supported by an Economic and Social Research Council Studentship. This work was partly supported by a MRC grant to VW. We would like to thank Gerrit Maus and Clare Jonas for assistance with the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK

    Michael J. Banissy & Vincent Walsh

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Jamie Ward

Authors
  1. Michael J. Banissy
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  2. Vincent Walsh
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  3. Jamie Ward
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Correspondence to Michael J. Banissy.

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Banissy, M.J., Walsh, V. & Ward, J. Enhanced sensory perception in synaesthesia. Exp Brain Res 196, 565–571 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1888-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1888-0

Keywords

  • Synaesthesia
  • Colour
  • Touch
  • Sensory perception
  • Multisensory processing
  • Cross-modal plasticity