Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt, Germany.
Cortex. 2011 Jul-Aug;47(7):874-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.02.008. Epub 2011 Feb 15.
The traditional and predominant understanding of synesthesia is that a sensory input in one modality (inducer) elicits sensory experiences in another modality (concurrent). Recent evidence suggests an important role of semantic representations of inducers. We report here the cases of two synesthetes, experienced swimmers, for whom each swimming style evokes another synesthetic color. Importantly, synesthesia is evoked also in the absence of direct sensory stimulation, i.e., the proprioceptive inputs during swimming. To evoke synesthetic colors, it is sufficient to evoke the concept of a given swimming style e.g., by showing a photograph of a swimming person. A color-consistency test and a Stroop-type test indicated that the synesthesia is genuine. These findings imply that synesthetic inducers do not operate at a sensory level but instead, at the semantic level at which concepts are evoked. Hence, the inducers are not defined by the modality-dependent sensations but by the "ideas" activated by these sensations.
传统和主要的联觉理解是，一种感觉输入（激发者）在另一种感觉模式（并发）中引起感觉体验。最近的证据表明，激发者的语义表示起着重要作用。我们在这里报告了两位联觉者的案例，他们都是有经验的游泳者，他们每一种游泳风格都会引发另一种联觉颜色。重要的是，即使没有直接的感觉刺激，即游泳时的本体感觉输入，也会引发联觉。要唤起联觉颜色，只需唤起给定的游泳风格的概念，例如，通过展示游泳者的照片。颜色一致性测试和斯特鲁普型测试表明，这种联觉是真实的。这些发现意味着联觉激发者不是在感觉水平上起作用，而是在概念被唤起的语义水平上起作用。因此，激发者不是由依赖于感觉的感觉定义的，而是由这些感觉激活的“想法”定义的。
