The merit of synesthesia for consciousness research
- Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which additional perceptual experiences are elicited by sensory stimuli or cognitive concepts. Synesthetes possess a unique type of phenomenal experiences not directly triggered by sensory stimulation. Therefore, for better understanding of consciousness it is relevant to identify the mental and physiological processes that subserve synesthetic experience. In the present work we suggest several reasons why synesthesia has merit for research on consciousness. We first review the research on the dynamic and rapidly growing field of the studies of synesthesia. We particularly draw attention to the role of semantics in synesthesia, which is important for establishing synesthetic associations in the brain. We then propose that the interplay between semantics and sensory input in synesthesia can be helpful for the study of the neural correlates of consciousness, especially when making use of ambiguous stimuli for inducing synesthesia. Finally, synesthesia-related alterations of brain networks and functional connectivity can be of merit for the study of consciousness.
Author: | Tessa M. van LeeuwenORCiD, Wolf SingerORCiDGND, Danko NikolićORCiDGND |
---|---|
URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-519041 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01850 |
ISSN: | 1664-1078 |
Pubmed Id: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26696921 |
Parent Title (English): | Frontiers in psychology |
Publisher: | Frontiers Research Foundation |
Place of publication: | Lausanne |
Contributor(s): | Aleksandra Mroczko-Wąsowicz |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of Completion: | 2015 |
Date of first Publication: | 2015/12/02 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Release Date: | 2019/12/04 |
Tag: | NCC; ambiguous stimuli; consciousness; effective connectivity; parietal cortex; qualia; semantics; synesthesia |
Volume: | 6 |
Issue: | Art. 1850 |
Page Number: | 9 |
First Page: | 1 |
Last Page: | 9 |
Note: | Copyright © 2015 van Leeuwen, Singer and Nikolić. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
HeBIS-PPN: | 458143359 |
Institutes: | Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften / Psychologie |
Wissenschaftliche Zentren und koordinierte Programme / Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) | |
Angeschlossene und kooperierende Institutionen / MPI für Hirnforschung | |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie |
Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0 |