Text: Source:  McMaster University Date:  2004-11-24 What Color Is That Sound? Hamilton, ON - Imagine being able to see or taste sounds, as well as hearing them. Sound like science fiction? For some people, it¹s reality This blending of the senses occurs in a rare condition called "synesthesia." In this condition, a stimulus, such as sound, creates a reaction in another sense, as well as the expected sense. Now, professor Daphne Maurer of McMaster University¹s department of psychology has found that at one time we all lived in a world in which sights had sounds and feelings had taste. Although synesthesia is thought to occur in just 1 per cent of all adults, in her keynote address at the annual meeting of the American Synesthesia Association November 6, Maurer discussed evidence that all infants are synesthetic. ³Toddlers perceive higher pitched sounds to come from white balls and lower pitched sounds to come from black balls, just like adults with synesthesia,² explains Maurer. ³With development, the connections underlying synesthesia are inhibited in most individuals.² People with synesthesia grow up thinking everyone perceives the world the same way they do. They discover their perception is different when they make a comment such as "she's the one with the orange name.² McMaster University, named Canada¹s Research University of the Year by Research InfoSource, has world-renowned faculty and state-of-the-art research facilities. McMaster's culture of innovation fosters a commitment to discovery and learning in teaching, research and scholarship. Based in Hamilton, the University has a student population of more than 20,000 and more than 112,000 alumni in 128 countries. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041123153855.htm

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