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Initially, in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, there was a flury of scientific study done regarding synesthesia. Unfortunately, after that it feel off of scientists' radar.
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In 1975, Yale University psychologist Larry Marks, PhD, authored a review of the early history of synesthesia research in the journal Psychological Bulletin (Vol. 82, No. 3), the first major psychological treatment of the subject after a 30-year drought.
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Then, in the early 1980s, neurologist Richard E. Cytowic, MD, published several case reports of synesthesia. He proposed, provocatively, that the condition's cause rests in the limbic system, a more emotional and "primitive" part of the brain than the neocortex, where higher order thinking occurs. Although that theory has not received widespread support, Cytowic's case studies and his popular 1993 book, "The Man Who Tasted Shapes," heightened synesthesia's prominence and prompted psychologists a
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In 1987, a team led by Baron-Cohen found the first hard evidence that synesthetes' experiences are consistent across time.
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Cytowic's case studies and his popular 1993 book, "The Man Who Tasted Shapes," heightened synesthesia's prominence and prompted psychologists and neuroscientists to examine the condition experimentally.
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University of Waterloo researchers Mike Dixon, PhD, Daniel Smilek, Cera Cudahy and Philip Merikle, PhD, showed that, for one synesthete, the color experiences associated with digits could be induced even if the digits themselves were never presented. These researchers presented a synesthete with simple arithmetic problems such as "5 + 2." Their experiment showed that solving this arithmetic problem activated the concept of 7, leading their synesthete to perceive the color associated with 7.
This
