Synesthesia is a new research topic recently receiving a lot of attention. These scientists believe that more research is required in order to provide a more concrete definition of synesthesia as well as to understand all the symptoms associated with this disorder.
Six Professional Literature Citations
Bub, B. (2008). Synesthesia. Academic Medicine, 83 (7), 660-661.
Cytowic, R. E., Wood, F. B. (1982). Synesthesia. Brain and Cognition, 1 (1), 23-35.
Hubbard, E. M., Ramachandran, V. S. (2005). Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Synesthesia. Neuron, 48 (3), 509-520.
Knoch, D., Gianotti, L. R. R., Mohr, C., Brugger. P. (2005). Synesthesia: When Colors Count. Cognitive Brain Research, 25 (1), 372-374.
Nikolic, D., Jurgens, U. M., Rothen, N., Meier, B., Mroczko, A. (2011). Swimming-style Synesthesia. Cortex, 47 (7), 874-879.
Sollberger, M. (2011). Rethinking Synesthesia. Philosophical Psychology, 14 (46), 1-17.
Four Professional Articles
Hubbard, E. M., Ramachandran, V. S. (2005). Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Synesthesia. Neuron, 48 (3), 509-520.
These authors focus on the relationship between synesthesia and attention as well as the role and meaning of synesthetic colors.
Knoch, D., Gianotti, L. R. R., Mohr, C., Brugger. P. (2005). Synesthesia: When Colors Count. Cognitive Brain Research, 25 (1), 372-374.
These researchers discuss the possibility of “covert bidirectionality” as opposed to unidirectional processing in synesthetic experiences.
Nikolic, D., Jurgens, U. M., Rothen, N., Meier, B., Mroczko, A. (2011). Swimming-style Synesthesia. Cortex, 47 (7), 874-879.
In this article, the researchers talk about how ideas instead of sensory level input can evoke a synesthetic experience.
Sollberger, M. (2011). Rethinking Synesthesia. Philosophical Psychology, 14 (46), 1-17.
Sollberger focuses on providing a more literal experience for synesthesia, a veridical experience, instead of treating these experiences as hallucinations or illusions.
Particular Popular Audience
When researching synesthesia, the popular audience would be possible patients, current patients and any close family or friends of those patients. If one is not told that there is such a disorder called synesthesia, I am pretty sure no one will look for it. What possible patients would look for when researching this disorder are symptoms. In today’s do it yourself society, many will want to look for quick facts that can help them self-diagnose themselves. Individuals that already have this disorder will search for more information to help them better understand their medical situation. This audience will want more in depth details so that they can become better educated and can go back to their doctor to ask better questions. Family and friends will also want to become better educated about synesthesia when they become aware that someone they are close to has this neurological disorder. However this entire group is searching for general information that can help them better understand synesthesia, such as what it is, what possible symptoms are and if it is common or not. The best method to address this audience would be to use familiar terminology and to provide the information in a brief paragraph.
Genre Analysis Essay
Title
Have you ever had the sensation of tasting strawberries when you hear a bell? Or see the color yellow when you read the word cat? These mixing of senses probably do not make much sense. How is one person expected to stimulate their taste buds when their auditory sensors are being utilized? Or see a color when reading from a black and white book? All these symptoms and a vast variety of others describe the disorder of synesthesia. Synesthesia is a neurological condition that combines senses by automatically and involuntarily stimulating another sense. To find the popular perception of this disorder I consulted with the article How to Tell if You Have Synesthesia, by Isaiah David, the article Seeing Color in Sound has Genetic Link, by Elizabeth Landau and finally an article from Wikipedia titled Synesthesia. These three articles focused on the popular perception of synesthesia while the remaining two articles found were from a professional perception. Scientists Jean-Michel Hupe, Cecile Bordier and Michel Dojat presented the professional audience with their article The Neural Bases of Grapheme-Color Synesthesia are not Localized in Real Color-Sensitive Areas. Another article, Evidence from a Functional Connectivity Study on Auditory-Visual Synesthetes, written by J. Neufield, C. Bordier and M. Dojat also targets a professional audience. The untrained readers are able to understand these types of disorders through the use of logical examples and anecdotes. The professional crowd is addressed with experiments, evidence and hard facts. There are several ways to convey a message; finding that appropriate method however will make it the most effective for addressing a certain type of audience.
For the identified genres above there are very specific audience members. When Wikipedia addresses an audience it is not necessarily intended for brain surgeons or physicists, it is intended for normal people who are looking for a quick answer. Normal people are those who have completed high school or have their bachelor’s degree, with no higher training. These members are not spending much time searching for new experiments or theories; they are looking for the quickest way to answer their questions. These questions might range from finding the simple definition of a disorder or to find who a celebrity is dating. If not assigned a research project this audience is most likely to spend their time searching for their interests such as: clothes, shoes, makeup, dance, animals and other hobbies. This type of research mostly yields in entertainment values but may even lead to persuasion as well. However, on the other hand there is an audience that wants an answer with all the facts to support it. These types of viewers include doctors, surgeons, scientists and anyone who is highly trained and specialized. They find multiple articles from credited sources to formalize a credible theory or idea. The time this crowd spends on research is extensive; when searching for an answer this audience is not only looking for what, but also who, where, when and why. When this audience spends its time researching it is to find cures, or better methods of architecture or the origin of life. After spending a great length of time researching, this audience becomes well informed on topics.
When a normal person is searching for information they are not looking for much credibility. This type of audience typically relies on the rhetorical appeals of logos and pathos. This crowd does not critically analyze information but looks to reason for credibility. If the information in an article is presented in a reasonable manner and has few details of support, it will be accepted. Another great way to have this audience accept any sort of information is through the rhetorical appeal of pathos, or emotional appeal. By utilizing the emotions of its readers, magazines, news articles and other sources are able to exploit them and persuade them to their point of view. These sources tug on their readers’ heart strings in order to persuade them to believe what they are reading. Logos and pathos do seem like appropriate types of evidence for this genre. Using logic and emotional appeal is the best method to convey messages to this type of audience, because we do not think critically. This group is more known to “think with their heart”. On the other hand, the second type of audience members, which includes the experts and professionals, uses the rhetorical appeal of ethos. This type of appeal is based on the credibility of the source. But it is also not enough for this audience to accept just one source; they will find a second and maybe even a third source to support the original. The most emotion that this crowd would likely experience during research would be shock. Staggering statistics and experimental results might be able to surprise these readers, but not much other emotion is expected. Details, proofs, statistics and other numerical details are very appropriate for this genre. Professionals seek numbers to support their theories not emotional appeal.
The structure and style of each genre is also very specific for each type. When the normal crowd looks for information the structure is set up like a narrative. Information is organized into a story so that the rhetorical appeals of logos and pathos are the most effective. This structure gives the author time to use the readers’ emotions and persuade them towards his or her own views. To be more connected with its audience, authors in this genre use informal and familiar language. Familiar language being commonly used word, not words that one might have to look up in the dictionary. Conversely, there is the professional audience. This type of genre is completely different in structure and language than the previously discussed genre. When presenting information to a professional audience it is very direct. Data is not organized into a story with superficial details; instead it is presented more like a list. The information is organized into sentences, one after the other, so that readers can efficiently extract the information from sources. This style of writing is very formal with very specialized vocabulary.
When comparing these two different types of genres, their approach for conveying a message, it is radically different. One style is structured like a narrative that is informal and has a greater entertainment value. The other style is very structured containing highly specialized vocabulary and is extremely informative. There is very little to none overlap between the two genres. Both methods present information for readers, but even that is in different styles. These styles however, are very effective for each audience.
The Professional Perception on Synesthesia
In the first article, The Neural Bases of Grapheme-Color Synesthesia are not Localized in Real Color-Sensitive Areas, we take a look at the structure of the brain and its association with synesthesia. Researchers used MRI scans to focus on the degree of coactivation by real and synesthetic colors by evaluating each color center individually. Researchers also searched for any differences in the structure of brains between synesthetes and nonsynesthetes. They were not able to find any difference in the regions of white or gray matter between the two groups, however synesthetes did have more white matter in the retrosplenial cortex, which is involved with memory and emotional processes. If the joint coding of real and synesthetic colors does exist then it must be distributed and not localized in the visual cortex.
In the second article, Disinhibited Feedback as a Cause of Synesthesia: Evidence from a Functional Connectivity Study on Auditory-Visual Synesthetes, the author discusses two possible models for this disorder, direct cross-activation and hyperbinding. In the first model, direct cross-activation, it is postulated that there is a direct connection between sensory regions which allows for coactivation. The second model, hyperbinding, suggests that a synesthetic sensation is coupled with a sensory nexus area, causing both to be stimulated. By using fMRI scans and focusing on two different areas of the auditory region, researchers were able to support their second model because no differences in the connectivity between the auditory and visual regions were able to be found between synesthetes and nonsynesthetes.
Hupe, J., Bordier, C., Dojat, M. (2012). The neural bases of grapheme-color synesthesia are not localized in real color-sensitive areas. Cerebral Cortex. 22 (7), 1622.
Neufeld, J., Sinke, C., Zedler, M., Dillo, W., Emrich, H.M. (2012). Disinhibited Feedback as a Cause of Synesthesia: Evidence from a Functional Connectivity Study on Auditory-Visual Synesthetes. Neuropsychologia. 12 (2), 406-418.
The Popular Perception of Synesthesia
According to Wikipedia, synesthesia is derived from the Greek words to mean “together” and “sensation”. In this condition the stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to the automatic involuntary stimulation of a second sensory pathway. There are over 60 different types of synesthesia; each case intensely different from the rest. Unfortunately due to the variety of this disorder and the great magnitude of differences in each case, only a fraction of the types has been evaluated through scientific research.
In Isaiah David’s article, How to Tell if You have Synesthesia, readers learn just that. This eHow Contributor lists a series of steps to help viewers self-diagnose themselves. Something new that readers learn in his article is that with this condition the sensory impression remains constant day to day. For instance, if the sound of a door bell provides a “taste” of strawberries then every time a doorbell rings one will consistently have the taste of strawberries, in their mouth.
Elizabeth Landau, a CNN reporter, confirms in her article the genetic link to synesthesia. Asher, a researcher in genomic medicine at the Imperial College of London, and his colleagues were able to identify that the condition of synesthesia was located on regions of chromosomes 2, 5, 6 and 12. However their research was solely focused on auditory-visual synesthesia, where a sound can trigger color. They accomplished their research by collecting DNA samples from 196 people in 43 families; synesthesia has been known for centuries to run in families. Their research was the first to identify the genetic link and has proven that this condition is more complex than they thought.
David, I. How to Tell if You have Synesthesia. Retrieved from
http://www.ehow.com/how_2278649_tell-have-synesthesia.html
Landau, E. (2009, Feb. 9). Seeing Color in Sound has Genetic Link. Retrieved from
Wikipedia (2012, June 28). Synesthesia. Retrieved from
My Hot Topic….Synesthesia
The hot topic that I will be focusing on is Synesthesia, the neurological condition that combines senses. This condition is highly researched and has few answers due to the mass variety and intensity of each case. Even if two individuals are experiencing the same type of synesthesia disorder, the intensity of that disorder will vary from person to person. It’s not a one size fits all kind of deal. It is also becoming a common condition in the global population; more common in females than in males. It has also been discovered what chromosomes this disorder is linked to and that it runs in families. This topic has always been interesting to me and I’m sure that I will be able to find the necessary information on this topic for the next assignments.
Hot Topics in Neuropsych
One hot issue in neuropsychology today is the distinction between cortical-subcortical dementia. Parkinson’s disease, a subcortical syndrome, and Alzheimer’s disease, a cortical syndrome, were both analyzed in this issue. Clinical reports now suggest that less sever intellectual and memory dysfunction are found in subcortical syndromes rather than in cortical syndromes. This is causing a big stir in the neuropsychological world because it is changing the long held beliefs in this area. Change is almost never well accepted, and what is causing this change is the development of new technology. The advances in technology is allowing new research to be done and thus causing a stir.
Another topic in this discipline that is causing a buzz is the topic of synesthesia. Now we may not all be familiar with long medical terms, but I am pretty sure that we’ve all heard of these symptoms at least once before. Synesthesia is the sensory phenomenon also known as “merging of senses”. For instance, saying the word yellow might make one suffering from synesthesia see the color yellow or even taste something, like a banana. Sounds familiar now doesn’t it? This issue has always been a hot topic in this discipline since the late 19th century. Investigators have always found it difficult to form an objective framework for this syndrome and with advances in technology and testing it might become easier to finally form that framework.
A third hot topic in this field is malingering. Malingering can be associated with a hypochondriac. This diagnosis is typically avoided by physicians, but this term is used when someone claims false symptoms or exaggerates diseases. However this is more than just pretending to sick, it is an intended deception in order to gain something. This syndrome is a hot topic today because there is no concise way of testing it. Despite the advances in technology, neuropsychologists have no definitive procedure of verifying this disease.
Discipline Format
I will be using the American Psychological Association (APA) format for my discipline of Neuropsychology.
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