Synesthesia results due to additional innervation in the brain where two or more sensory lobes are directly connected, resulting in a unique and repeatable multi-sensory experience.
Individuals with synesthesia would describe their experience as specific geometric shapes associated with foods, observing colors when listening to music notes, and hearing voices associated with separate words when they are reading. Ultimately, these are only a few of the ways that synesthesia may present itself. Synesthetes (people with synesthesia) would describe their experience as adding another dimension to their experience of the world. In several instances, synesthesia was linked with extreme pattern recognition and heavily improved a synesthete's ability to recall items that activate their synesthesia.
Synesthesia is influenced by additional nerves leading between lobes that are normally unassociated in non-synesthetes. For instance, a synesthetes visual cortex will communicate with their parietal lobe to associate a specific taste with something they are seeing. Most synesthetes express their synesthesia at birth or in their early childhood. However, it is possible to develop synesthesia later in life. Synesthesia may be inherited or developed due to neuroplasticity or artifically altered neurochemistry. Stimulants and psychedelic drugs have been observed to increase the chances of synesthesia.
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Background Photo by Art by Daniel Olah on Unsplash