Is synesthesia a neurological disorder?

Is synesthesia a neurological disorder?

Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which information meant to stimulate one of your senses stimulates several of your senses. People who have synesthesia are called synesthetes.

What are the symptoms of synesthesia?

Synesthesia is when you hear music, but you see shapes. Or you hear a word or a name and instantly see a color. Synesthesia is a fancy name for when you experience one of your senses through another. For example, you might hear the name “Alex” and see green.

What part of the brain causes synesthesia?

Several brain regions have been shown to be pivotal for synaesthetic experience among them are sensory and motor regions as well as so-called “higher level” regions in the parietal and frontal lobe.

Which brain area is most affected by synesthesia?

Third, an overview of obtained results shows that a network of brain areas rather than a single brain region underlies synaesthesia. Six brain regions of overlapping results emerge, these regions are in sensory and motor regions as well as ‘higher level’ regions in parietal and frontal lobe.

What synaesthesia tells us about the brain?

In other words, synesthetes have a hyper-excitable brain. Specifically, in the case of grapheme-colour synesthesia, in order to stimulate the neurons of the primary visual cortex —in charge of processing what we see— far fewer stimuli are needed than are required to activate those same nerve cells in a normal brain.

Is synesthesia related to schizophrenia?

Researchers found this type of synaesthesia to share some of its biology with schizophrenia. Grapheme-coloured synaesthesia is the most common form of synaesthesia. It’s estimated that 86% of people with synaesthesia will fall into this group.

Is synesthesia a Neurodiversity?

Relevance: Both autism and synaesthesia are examples of neurodiversity, which illustrates how our genes may change our brain structure and function and consequently our experience.