WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: What Is Synesthesia?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lauren voc Obam and today's episode is a classic

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<v Speaker 1>from our erst file. Host Christian Sager. The topic what

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<v Speaker 1>is synaesthesia and how does it work? Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>it's Christian Sager. Have you ever heard a color or

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<v Speaker 1>smelled a sound? If so, don't worry. You are not alone. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>you're part of a group I consider superpowered. You have

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<v Speaker 1>synast asia, or you've done some crazy drugs, and maybe

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<v Speaker 1>that's a different episode. But when people with synastasia experience

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<v Speaker 1>input from one sense, it results in the experience of

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<v Speaker 1>another sense. So if you're a sinisty like author Vladimir Nabokov,

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<v Speaker 1>you would associate letters with colors, grapheme color synast asia,

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<v Speaker 1>that's what it's called. And there are different types of

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<v Speaker 1>synast asia. Nabakov called his color hearing this grapheme color

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<v Speaker 1>stuff is the most common type, but cinnast asia can

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<v Speaker 1>occur between just about any combination of senses or cognitive pathways,

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<v Speaker 1>and not everyone will experience the same type of cynas

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<v Speaker 1>asia the same way. So while the soft ah sound

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<v Speaker 1>always seems like fire engine red to one sinistete it

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<v Speaker 1>maybe cobalt blue for others. Some people with this condition

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<v Speaker 1>see music, which sounds kind of beautiful when you think

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<v Speaker 1>about it. There are less common types, such as lexical

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<v Speaker 1>gustatory synas asia. People with this condition taste certain flavors, dishes,

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<v Speaker 1>or entire meals based on a picture, word, or sound.

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<v Speaker 1>Smells could have colors and shapes to the list goes on.

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<v Speaker 1>There's mirror touch, cinnast asia, ordinal linguistic personification, and number

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<v Speaker 1>form where a person sees numbers as a distinct map.

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<v Speaker 1>So this is all fascinating, but how do people get it?

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<v Speaker 1>Researchers are still working on that one, but they believe

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<v Speaker 1>the condition tends to be somewhat inherited or genetic, as

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<v Speaker 1>about of sinistats have a close relative with cynast asia.

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<v Speaker 1>Most sinnistates recall having the condition for as long as

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<v Speaker 1>they can remember. It might sound like people have made

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<v Speaker 1>pneumonic connections with sounds, colors, or so on, but research

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<v Speaker 1>shows it is a genuine sensory phenomenon rather than a

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<v Speaker 1>memory exercise. For example, if we drew the number five

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<v Speaker 1>all over a piece of paper scattered with a few twos,

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<v Speaker 1>forming a triangle. Most people would have a hard time

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<v Speaker 1>seeing it. They would have to look closely to search

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<v Speaker 1>for the twos and then slowly construct the shape, but

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<v Speaker 1>a graphine color sinistete can see this triangle almost instantly.

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<v Speaker 1>Researchers think that cinnast asia is a kind of cross

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<v Speaker 1>wiring in the brain in graphine color cinis steats, seeing

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<v Speaker 1>a number stimulates your graphee region and the area of

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<v Speaker 1>your visual cortex that responds to color stimuli. One theory

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<v Speaker 1>is that there are increased neural connections in the brain

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<v Speaker 1>of cynistats that could have been the result of less

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<v Speaker 1>neural pruning. That's what they call it neural pruning, while

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<v Speaker 1>in utero. Even cooler is that there might be actual

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<v Speaker 1>anatomical differences in the brains of cinistats, like increased white

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<v Speaker 1>and gray matter in their brains. One bit of sad

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<v Speaker 1>news for all the non sinnistats out there. Although one

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<v Speaker 1>study did find that some exposure to color letters built

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<v Speaker 1>up their association, the effect didn't last, so people can't

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<v Speaker 1>just catch synaesthesia. But hey, it's not like all the

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<v Speaker 1>cynist eats have a great time. It can be uncomfortable

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<v Speaker 1>to see a number in the wrong color, and one

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<v Speaker 1>lexical gustatory synist Eats said that if a certain name

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't taste write to him, he has a hard time

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<v Speaker 1>liking the person it's attached to. And it's time to

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<v Speaker 1>talk about drugs. Don't act like you didn't know this

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<v Speaker 1>was coming. Hallucinogens might be one way that synaesthesia can

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<v Speaker 1>be manufactured. Several drugs can produce vivid cynist asia in

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<v Speaker 1>non sinist eats, which might be a key to understanding

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<v Speaker 1>the condition. One researcher has positive that in non sinistats,

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<v Speaker 1>information in a multisensory area travels back easily to its

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<v Speaker 1>single sense area, but in sinistats it gets a bit

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<v Speaker 1>mixed up along the way. Hallucinogens may temporarily alter the

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<v Speaker 1>user's neurochemistry, confusing those existing connections. I mean, let's face it,

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<v Speaker 1>going to a concert might be pretty amazing for people

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<v Speaker 1>with visually associated synesthesia. Today's episode was written by Ben

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<v Speaker 1>Bolan and produced by Tyler Klang. The brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>a production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. For

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<v Speaker 1>more on this and lots of other topics, visit our

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