Synaesthesia: an overview of contemporary findings and controversies.

Full Abstract

Research on synaesthesia is undergoing something of a renaissance, having initially been a hot topic in psychology and philosophy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One hundred years ago investigators failed to define an objective framework within which to characterise the phenomenon, and so interest in the topic waned. With the cognitive revolution and the rapid rise of new experimental techniques in human neuroscience, interest in synaesthesia as a legitimate topic for scientific investigation has been rekindled. Since the 1980s there has been rapid growth in scientific and media interest in synaesthesia, and there is now a sense that real progress is being made. This Special Issue of Cortex brings together the largest collection of empirical papers on the topic of synaesthesia to date. The 21 papers collected herein showcase the many significant advances that have been made in understanding the behavioural and neural bases of synaesthesia. The contributions reflect the work of more than 60 investigators from nine different countries. We are confident that the papers presented in this Special Issue will set the agenda for synaesthesia research for many years to come.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Ward, Jamie (J); Mattingley, Jason B (JB);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University College London, London, UK. jamie.ward(-atsign-)ucl.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior (Cortex), published in Italy. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Feb; vol 42 (issue 2) : pp 129-36

Dates: Created 2006/05/10; Completed 2006/09/07;

PMID: 16683485, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Association
Auditory Perception - physiology
Brain Mapping
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Color Perception - physiology
Electroencephalography

Humans
Imagination - physiology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Reference Values
Taste - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

A neural basis for category and modality specificity of semantic knowledge. 30 May 1999
Neurophysiology of synesthesia. 30 May 2007
Behavioral and neural correlates of perceived and imagined musical timbre. 30 Dec 2003
Sensory and association cortex in time perception. 30 May 2008
Computational models of association cortex. 30 Mar 2000
Cortical analysis of visual context. 22 Apr 2003
Rehabilitation technique facilitates association cortices in hemiparetic patients: functional MRI study. 30 Dec 2002
Reading cinnamon activates olfactory brain regions. 30 Apr 2006
Evidence against functionalism from neuroimaging of the alien colour effect in synaesthesia. 30 Jan 2006
Neural activities of tactile cross-modal working memory in humans: an event-related potential study. 10 Jan 2008

See 100+ related articles.