The blended senses of synesthesia: Synesthetes can taste numbers, feel colors or have other sensations triggered by sensations. Studies of their brains could provide clues for neurological disorders.
Like synesthesia, many neurological disorders — such as schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, depression and epilepsy — have been linked to abnormal communication between brain regions. The hope is that as neuroscientists learn about how the connections in the synesthetic brain differ from those in normal brains, they will also gain insight into how these differences develop — and how they sometimes manifest as harmful disorders.
Photo: Some people with synesthesia might associate sounds with colors. Credit: Pascal Broze / Getty Images
(Source: Los Angeles Times)
