Example of associations between graphemes and colors that are described more accurately as ideasthesia than as synesthesia
Ideasthesia (alternative spelling ideaesthesia) was
introduced by neuroscientist Danko Nikolić and is defined as a
phenomenon in which activations of concepts (inducers) evoke
perception-like experiences (concurrents). The name comes from the Ancient Greek ἰδέα (idéa) and αἴσθησις (aísthēsis), meaning "sensing concepts" or "sensing ideas". The main reason for introducing the notion of ideasthesia was the problems with synesthesia. While "synesthesia" means "union of senses", empirical evidence indicated that this was an incorrect explanation of a set of phenomena traditionally covered by this heading. Syn-aesthesis
denoting also "co-perceiving", implies the association of two sensory
elements with little connection to the cognitive level. However,
according to others, most phenomena that have inadvertently been linked to synesthesia in fact are induced by the semantic representations. That is, the meaning
of the stimulus is what is important rather than its sensory
properties, as would be implied by the term synesthesia. In other words,
while synesthesia presumes that both the trigger (inducer) and the
resulting experience (concurrent) are of sensory nature, ideasthesia
presumes that only the resulting experience is of sensory nature while
the trigger is semantic. Meanwhile, the concept of ideasthesia developed
into a theory of how we perceive and the research has extended to
topics other than synesthesia — as the concept of ideasthesia turned out
applicable to our everyday perception.
Ideasthesia has been even applied to the theory of art. Research on
ideasthesia bears important implications for solving the mystery of
human conscious experience, which, according to ideasthesia, is grounded in how we activate concepts.
Examples and evidence
A drawing by a synesthete which illustrates time unit-space synesthesia/ideasthesia.
The months in a year are organized into a circle surrounding the
synesthete's body, each month having a fixed location in space and a
unique color.
A common example of synesthesia is the association between graphemes and colors, usually referred to as grapheme-color synesthesia.
Here, letters of the alphabet are associated with vivid experiences of
color. Studies have indicated that the perceived color is
context-dependent and is determined by the extracted meaning of a
stimulus. For example, an ambiguous stimulus '5' that can be interpreted
either as 'S' or '5' will have the color associated with 'S' or with
'5', depending on the context in which it is presented. If presented
among numbers, it will be interpreted as '5' and will associate the
respective color. If presented among letters, it will be interpreted as
'S' and will associate the respective synesthetic color.
Evidence for grapheme-color synesthesia comes also from the
finding that colors can be flexibly associated to graphemes, as new
meanings become assigned to those graphemes. In one study synesthetes
were presented with Glagolitic
letters that they have never seen before, and the meaning was acquired
through a short writing exercise. The Glagolitic graphemes inherited the
colors of the corresponding Latin graphemes as soon as the Glagolitic
graphemes acquired the new meaning.
In another study, synesthetes were prompted to form novel
synesthetic associations to graphemes never seen before. Synesthetes
created those associations within minutes or seconds - which was time
too short to account for creation of new physical connections between
color representation and grapheme representation areas in the brain,
pointing again towards ideasthesia. Although the time course is
consistent with postsynaptic AMPA receptor upregulation and/or NMDA
receptor coactivation, which would imply that the realtime experience is
invoked at the synaptic level of analysis prior to establishment of
novel wiring per se, a very intuitively appealing model.
For lexical-gustatory synesthesia
evidence also points towards ideasthesia: In lexical-gustatory
synesthesia, verbalisation of the stimulus is not necessary for the
experience of concurrents. Instead, it is sufficient to activate the
concept.
Another case of synesthesia is swimming-style synesthesia in
which each swimming style is associated with a vivid experience of a
color.
These synesthetes do not need to perform the actual movements of a
corresponding swimming style. To activate the concurrent experiences, it
is sufficient to activate the concept of a swimming style (e.g., by
presenting a photograph of a swimmer or simply talking about swimming).
It has been argued that grapheme-color synesthesia for geminate consonants also provides evidence for ideasthesia.
In pitch-color synesthesia, the same tone will be associated with
different colors depending on how it has been named; do-sharp (i.e. di)
will have colors similar to do (e.g., a reddish color) and re-flat
(i.e. ra) will have color similar to that of re (e.g., yellowish),
although the two classes refer to the same tone. Similar semantic associations have been found between the acoustic characteristics of vowels and the notion of size.
One-shot synesthesia: There are synesthetic experiences
that can occur just once in a lifetime, and are thus dubbed one-shot
synesthesia. Investigation of such cases has indicated that such unique
experiences typically occur when a synesthete is involved in an
intensive mental and emotional activity such as making important plans
for one's future or reflecting on one's life. It has been thus concluded
that this is also a form of ideasthesia.
In normal perception
Which
one would be called Bouba and which Kiki? Responses are highly
consistent among people. This is an example of ideasthesia as the
conceptualization of the stimulus plays an important role.
Recently, it has been suggested that the Bouba/Kiki phenomenon is a case of ideasthesia. Most people will agree that the star-shaped object on the left is named Kiki and the round one on the right Bouba. It has been assumed that these associations come from direct connections between visual and auditory cortices.
For example, according to that hypothesis, representations of sharp
inflections in the star-shaped object would be physically connected to
the representations of sharp inflection in the sound of Kiki. However,
Gomez et al.
have shown that Kiki/Bouba associations are much richer as either word
and either image is associated semantically to a number of concepts such
as white or black color, feminine vs. masculine, cold vs. hot, and
others. These sound-shape associations seem to be related through a
large overlap between semantic networks
of Kiki and star-shape on one hand, and Bouba and round-shape on the
other hand. For example, both Kiki and star-shape are clever, small,
thin and nervous. This indicates that behind Kiki-Bouba effect lies a
rich semantic network. In other words, our sensory experience is largely
determined by the meaning that we assign to stimuli. Food description
and wine tasting is another domain in which ideasthetic association
between flavor and other modalities such as shape may play an important
role.
These semantic-like relations play a role in successful marketing; the
name of a product should match its other characteristics.
Implications for development of synesthesia
The concept of ideasthesia bears implications for understanding how synesthesia develops
in children. Synesthetic children may associate concrete sensory-like
experiences primarily to the abstract concepts that they have otherwise
difficulties dealing with.
Synesthesia may thus be used as a cognitive tool to cope with the
abstractness of the learning materials imposed by the educational system
— referred to also as a "semantic vacuum hypothesis". This hypothesis
explains why the most common inducers in synesthesia are graphemes and
time units — both relating to the first truly abstract ideas that a
child needs to master.
Implications for art theory
The concept of ideasthesia has been often discussed in relation to art, and also used to formulate a psychological theory of art.
According to the theory, we consider something to be a piece of art
when experiences induced by the piece are accurately balanced with
semantics induced by the same piece. Thus, a piece of art makes us both
strongly think and strongly experience. Moreover, the two must be
perfectly balanced such that the most salient stimulus or event is both
the one that evokes strongest experiences (fear, joy, ... ) and
strongest cognition (recall, memory, ...) — in other words, idea is well balanced with aesthesia.
Ideasthesia theory of art may be used for psychological studies of aesthetics. It may also help explain classificatory disputes about art
as its main tenet is that experience of art can only be individual,
depending on person's unique knowledge, experiences and history. There could exist no general classification of art satisfactorily applicable to each and all individuals.
Neurophysiology of ideasthesia
Ideasthesia is congruent with the theory of brain functioning known as practopoiesis.
According to that theory, concepts are not an emergent property of
highly developed, specialized neuronal networks in the brain, as is
usually assumed; rather, concepts are proposed to be fundamental to the
very adaptive principles by which living systems and the brain operate.
