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Richard Cytowic  
Sean Day
Sean Day was formerly with the department of English at Miami University, Ohio.
His comments for this page (10.10.02):
- your past involvement with synesthesia research
As a synesthete myself, I began studying synesthesia from my earliest age, examining my own at age 6, and others by age 11 or 12. I began researching synesthesia academically over 11 years ago, with the initiation of my doctoral dissertation work. Also about 11 years ago, I began The Synesthesia List, an international e-mail forum for synesthetes and researchers of synesthesia; I have been operator, editor and monitor for this group for the past 11 years.
It has long been known that no two synesthetes with the same form of synesthesia have a total -- or even very partial -- match-up of associations between stimuli and synesthetic responses, such as, for example, the same colors for letters in the alphabet. One of my main areas of research has addressed the question of whether there are, nevertheless, certain trends for associations in synesthesia. My work has indicated that certain specific stimuli do indeed tend to produce specific synesthetic responses far more than statistical chance or what cultural influences would suggest. For example, about 57% of synesthetes who have colored letters (the most common type of synesthesia) "see" the letter "O' as white, while about 33% "see" "C' as yellow. Other trends also exist for other forms of synesthesia.
I have also, over the years, worked on tabulating the rate of types of synesthesia. My research has helped to affirm the colored letter synesthesia is by far the most common type -- more than twice as common as any other form. My data also has shown that there are some distinct differences in the types of synesthesiae most common for men as opposed to women. To date, I have documented and tabulated over 35 different types of synesthesia.
- your theory or beliefs about what causes synesthesia
Since I consider there to be probably more than 35 different types of synesthesia, I also feel it is probable that there are more than one cause for the various types of synesthesia. It appears that all forms of congenital synesthesia are genetically motivated. It appears that at least one of the genetic factors (perhaps a "trigger" factor) resides on the X chromosome; thus synesthesia is passed down via the mother's side. I propose that there are probably also additional genes active in causing synesthesia, some of which may be located on other chromosomes. It also appears that, thus, one can be a carrier of the genetic triggers for synesthesia without those genes activating to manifest synesthesia.
I currently subscribe to Ramachandran & Hubbard's proposals regarding the neurological causations of most forms of synesthesia, in which they suggest a variance of an adjacency theory, with (improper) neuronal feedback to areas adjacent or immediately linked to an initiating processing center. I also hold to a variant of Maurer's (1997) suggestion that congenital synesthesia is the result of neotenic retention of connections which are normally pruned.
However, we need to keep in mind that certain types of synesthesia can also be caused by injury, epileptic seizure, stroke, or tumor. However, I discount those types of synesthesia induced by various drugs, as they are only short-term and do not hold the consistency of associations which other forms (such as congenital synesthesia) have.
- your thoughts on the usefulness of synesthesia to the general public or to the scientific community
Synesthesia, in and of itself, holds no "hidden or divine truths" to "greater knowledge". It does not provide any "insights" to anything. Thus, for example, a synesthete who sees sky blue mist when a piano plays does not see what is truly there but concealed to all others, and piano music isn't really blue.
Synesthesia only provides benefit to the general public or to the scientific community if an individual synesthete finds a way and is able -- and willing -- to employ his or her synesthesia in a beneficial manner. If, for example, a synesthete with an artistic bent is able to take the colors she experiences when hearing music or feeling pain and reproduce them on canvas into art that others deem worthwhile; another synesthete might also try to do this, but a bad, incompetent artist does not benefit anybody. Or if, for example, a gourmet chef uses his taste to synesthetic touch synesthesia to guide his cooking: if it is a useful guide towards producing foods others find tasty, it is beneficial; if not, it isn't. Or if a Nobel Prize winning physicist uses his colored letters and numbers to help him memorize and more readily visualize equations, such that he can more readily solve equations, it is beneficial; if another math student's synesthetically colored numbers and symbols cause confusion and get in the way of solving even the most basic algebraic equations, that is not beneficial.
Thus, for most, synesthesia might prove both beneficial and non-beneficial. It has been my own experience, for example, that, when composing music, my synesthesia can sometimes induce me to try out very unusual and beautiful orchestral combinations -- the instruments being chosen for the synesthetic color combinations they produce. However, about half the time, a grouping of instruments that synesthetically look very visually appealing to me will, nevertheless, sound miserable to most any listening audience.
Peter Grossenbacher
Edward Hubbard
V. S. Ramachandran
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