SYNESTHESIA

What is synesthesia?
This is when one sensation stimulates the feeling of another.

BRAIN TEST

• Memory test- reading a list and seeing how many items the patient can remember
• MRI/CAT scan-shows what parts of the brain are active while having a synesthetic experience

Types of Synesthesia

• Grapheme Color/literary synesthesia-when letter and numbers have color, this is the most common type
• Mirror touch-an extreme version of empathy, you feel what someone else is feeling
• Misophonia-when sounds trigger negative experiences, literally means "hatred of sound"

Emotion-color synesthesia

• This is when people and things have colored halos based on familarity, personality, and sometimes rank
• This can be easily mistaken for swelling of the cornea which can cause halos or rainbows around lights

Misdiagnosis

• When sent to therapy it can be mistaken for eye conditions, even schizophrenia which if medication is taken regularly can cause schizophrenic tendencies
• It is also commonly diagnosed as floaters

Adult vs. Child

• Children end up telling an adult and can end up in mental institutions for the rest of their lives
• They are also sent to therapy
• Adults are much more selfconciouss and don't usually tell anyone about this condition

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DISCOVERIES AND CAREER

• Richard Cytowic is the leading researcher and has spent his life learning about synesthesia and other rare brain conditions and making people aware of them
• He is an opthamologist studying neuro-opthamology which focuses on eye conditions that originate in the brain as opposed to the eye
• He has discovered that when having a synesthetic experience, there is decreased blood flow in areas of the cortex meaning these patients are not using their imaginations

Qathy

• Qathy(pronounced Kathy)is a synesthete who changed the spelling of her name to make it prettier colors and to give it a better personality
• Kathy(birth name)was orange, red, brown, black, and yellow, "literally the worst combination of all time"
• Qathy(changed spelling)was pink, white, grey, red, and black

THANKS FOR WATCHING!

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