[Leonardo/ISAST Network] Synesthesia Discussion on YASMIN List

[Leonardo/ISAST]

Leonardo Co-Sponsors Synesthesia Discussion on YASMIN List, February 2008

During the month of February 2008 an open discussion will be held on the 
YASMIN list on the topic of synesthesia. To join or read the discussion 
register at:

http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin/

The discussion is being moderated by Carol Steen, co-founder and board 
member of the American Synesthesia Association, Inc. 
(http://www.synesthesia.info)

Other discussants include Greta Berman (art historian at the Julliard 
School); Cretien van Campen (moderator of the Synesthetics Netherlands 
website and author of the Leonardo Book Series book "The Hidden Sense"); 
Veroniki Korakidou (PhD Researcher at the NT Lab of the Department of 
Communication & Media Studies of the University of Athens);  
Hervé-Pierre Lambert (member of Institut Nicod, ENS/EHESS, Paris); Pier 
Luigi Capucci (teacher at the universities of Bologna and Urbino) and 
Avishai Henik (faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of 
the Negev Be'er-Sheva).  All new discussants are welcome.
Much work has gone into research on synesthesia that is now continuing 
in 43 countries around the world. fMRI scans  have shown scientists that 
synesthetes were reporting accurately, thus convincing them that this 
was a real and legitimate field of study. But the research is still 
relatively new and we still don't know much about synesthesia. As a 
topic of interest, it certainly has intrigued the world from many 
different vantage points. Some synesthetes want to know whether they are 
alone in their perceptions or if they share visions, and/or other 
perceptions. Are there commonalities? Others wonder how they, as 
non-synesthetes, can begin to understand and use these joined 
perceptions in their work. What most people think of when contemplating 
synesthesia is colored sound. However, studies suggest that one of the 
most common forms of synesthesia involves colored graphemes (letters and 
numbers, including colored words that may or may not have the same 
colors as the letters that form them). There are about 54 forms of 
synesthesia that have been documented, and as research continues, other 
forms are being added to this still developing taxonomy.
In this new YASMIN discussion we would like to invite questions and 
thoughts on any of the following topics from our discussants and from 
those who are interested in learning more about synesthesia. Comments 
and observations from synesthetes are most welcome, including questions 
about one's own perceptions (Am I a synesthete? Do others see what I see?)
 
Synesthesia and Perception: Accurate information about synesthesia. What 
does a photism look like? Commonalities of synesthetic perception.
 
Common and rare forms: A taxonomy of forms. Who has it? "Faking" 
synesthesia and why would anyone want to do that?
 
Synesthesia as Inspiration: Creative Artists & S. S and Metaphor. 
Multi-disciplinary presentations. Sand Education (Language Learning and 
Memory, for example)
_ _
Current Research and Researchers: Neuroscience and S. Genetics and S. 
Diagnosis, testing

The YASMIN discussion is part of the Leonardo Synesthesia and 
Intersenses Special Project launched in 1999 by Jack Ox and Jacques 
Mandelbrojt 
(www.leonardo.info/isast/spec.projects/synesthesia/synesthesia.html). 
This project includes a series of published articles and a bibliography 
on synesthesia edited by van Campen. Recently, Leonardo network members 
engaged in a debate about synesthesia at the MutaMorphosis conference in 
Prague: http://www.mutamorphosis.org.
 
We welcome ideas on how to continue these discussions.

 

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