Synesthesia: Sound to Sight

While our senses are distinct, they do overlap. This is called a “cross-modal relationship”. There’s a phenomenon called ‘synesthesia’ (sin-uhs-thee-shah), where one sense, like sound, affects how someone else perceives another sense, like sight. For example, someone could hear a C-major chord and associate it with a type of light ‘lilac’ purple colour, but the individual notes C, E, and G could be red, blue, and white respectively. What causes synesthesia? Professor Anina Rich, Director, Perception in Action Research Centre (PARC), Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, earlier today to find out more.

 

You can participate in her synesthesia research project here