Tasting Colors and Feeling Sounds :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Tasting Colors and Feeling Sounds Modes of Reality Each individual ascertains truth in a different way. Show ten people the kindred picture, and each(prenominal) will present a different description of the scene. We wholly live in the same world and yet we all bring different philosophies and ideas astir(predicate) reality and life. What do these differences tell us about objective reality? Do our senses detect the same reality, or does each person see a different picture in her stage? To some extent, this difference seems to hold true. What holds significance for me does non seem valuable to other people. The reality I grasp is unique to me. For a tiny portion of people their sensory reality differs radically from the accepted norms of connection (1). They suffer from a rare condition, synesthesia, which remains continuous throughout their lives. Synaesthetes, kind of of having their senses in concrete, separate blocks, blend different senses. Many merge their percepti ons of wrangling and numbers with different colors. In stronger cases, people see colors and shapes locomote in their visual field when they hear certain musical t angiotensin-converting enzymes. In one extreme case, a man felt specific tactual good senses when he smelled different things. Even more radically, some scientists now conjecture all humans may have undifferentiated senses in aboriginal stages of development. This paper will explore the understanding of synesthesia in terms of sensory development. The first of four sections will establish contemporary criteria for synesthesia and will evaluate its usefulness. From this foundation, the paper will explore the possible associatory origins of their condition. It will then analyze the shared physical characteristics among synaesthetes, and the origins of synesthesia in infants. Finally, this paper will examine the neurological basis for synesthesia in adult synaesthetes. Definitions Synaesthetes experience cross-modal s ensory associations involuntarily, such that the experience of one sense stimulates the sensations of another (1). Cytowic defines five features of clinical synesthesia (1). First, people experience synesthetic phenomena involuntarily whenever presented with a certain stimulus. The experience is not a forced association, but one the subject has felt since birth. Also, an actively-induced synesthetic perception, quite an than a passive experience, is not a genuine phenomenon. Synaesthetes project the sensation into peri-personal space they sense an actual physical quality outside of the self, not an internal sensation or aura. In addition, the triggered synesthetic perceptions remain constant over time and are unelaborated, generic perceptions. Synaesthetes report the experiences to be memorable, and emotional.