Have you ever tasted music or experienced numbers as having genders? If so, you might be a synesthete! Synesthesia refers to subjective experiences in which a stimulus associated with one sensory modality (e.g., vision) is experienced as having properties associated with an entirely different modality (e.g. sound, texture, or smell). This “mixing” of the senses raises fascinating questions about human experience and the life of the mind. In episode 33, Ellie and David discuss the science and philosophy of synesthesia while poking fun at people who brag about being synesthetes at parties. Are synesthetes born or made? What forms of synesthesia exist? And how might one go about cultivating synesthetic perception?

Works Discussed

Donielle Johnson, Carrie Allison, and Simon Baron-Cohen, “The Prevalence of
Synesthesia: The Consistency Revolution”
Simon Baron-Cohen, “Is There a Normal Phase of Synaesthesia in Development?”
David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous
Kenneth Peacock, “Instruments to Perform Color-Music: Two Centuries of Technological Experimentation”
Anina Rich, interview in "Synesthesia" episode of All in the Mind podcast
Jamie Ward and Peter Meijer. “Visual Experiences in the Blind Induced by an Auditory Sensory Substitution Device”
Jerry Fodor, The Modularity of Mind
Adam Wager, “The Extra Qualia Problem: Synaesthesia and Representationism”
John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

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Synesthesia