• Question: Why does synaesthesia happen? Why does the brain link senses?

    Asked by TamsinRL to Mary Jane on 15 Mar 2017. This question was also asked by xxCherxx.
    • Photo: Mary Jane Spiller

      Mary Jane Spiller answered on 15 Mar 2017:

      That is an excellent question – and one we’re still trying to work out!!
      So we think that synaesthesia is partly genetic and partly due to experience. So your genes might make you more likely to be a synaesthete and then your experiences will help develop the specific type i.e. whether you have colours for letter or tastes for words.
      In the brain there seems to be some differences between people with and people without synaesthesia – but we’re still trying to work out what this means, and how it works. It seems that there may be extra connections between the colour area and the letter area for people with colour letters for example.
      I hope that helps answer your question!!

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