Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ, UK.
Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ, UK.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2019 Dec 9;374(1787):20190030. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0030. Epub 2019 Oct 21.
People with synaesthesia have additional perceptual experiences, which are automatically and consistently triggered by specific inducing stimuli. Synaesthesia therefore offers a unique window into the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying conscious perception. A long-standing question in synaesthesia research is whether it is possible to artificially induce non-synaesthetic individuals to have synaesthesia-like experiences. Although synaesthesia is widely considered a congenital condition, increasing evidence points to the potential of a variety of approaches to induce synaesthesia-like experiences, even in adulthood. Here, we summarize a range of methods for artificially inducing synaesthesia-like experiences, comparing the resulting experiences to the key hallmarks of natural synaesthesia which include consistency, automaticity and a lack of 'perceptual presence'. We conclude that a number of aspects of synaesthesia can be artificially induced in non-synaesthetes. These data suggest the involvement of developmental and/or learning components in the acquisition of synaesthesia, and they extend previous reports of perceptual plasticity leading to dramatic changes in perceptual phenomenology in adults. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Bridging senses: novel insights from synaesthesia'.
具有联觉的人会产生额外的知觉体验，这些体验会被特定的诱发刺激自动且一致地触发。因此，联觉为研究意识知觉的神经认知机制提供了一个独特的窗口。联觉研究中的一个长期问题是，是否有可能人为地诱导非联觉个体产生类似联觉的体验。尽管联觉被广泛认为是一种先天性状况，但越来越多的证据表明，即使在成年后，也可以通过各种方法来诱导类似联觉的体验。在这里，我们总结了一系列人为诱导类似联觉体验的方法，将产生的体验与自然联觉的关键特征进行了比较，这些特征包括一致性、自动性和缺乏“知觉存在”。我们得出结论，许多方面的联觉可以在非联觉者中人为诱导。这些数据表明，在获得联觉的过程中涉及到发展和/或学习因素，并且它们扩展了先前关于知觉可塑性的报告，即知觉现象学在成年人中会发生戏剧性变化。本文是一次讨论会议的一部分，主题是“连接感觉：联觉的新见解”。
