Synaesthesia is a form of perception in which the different senses are mixed up. For example, a synaesthete may see colours when listening to music or feel flavours when touching different textures. A 2016 research found that Sign Language can also provide synaesthetic sensations.
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| Painting 'Composition VI' by Kandinsky. Some experts believe that the Russian painter Kandinsky was synaesthetic. |
The Research
The study involved researchers from three universities:
University College London
(UK),
University of Sussex
(UK) and
Baylor School of Medicine
(USA).
Fifty synaesthetes, aged 16-59 years, who normally see colours in letters,
participated voluntarily, half of whom were proficient in Sign Language and
learned it as adults. All of them watched a video in Sign Language and were
asked if watching it activated any colours. Some of the Sign Language
proficient people saw colours when fingerprint letters appeared in the Sign
Language video and the colour activated was the same as the corresponding
letter in the written language. However, people who did not understand Sign
Language did not experience any synaesthetic sensation when watching the
signed video.
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| This image is usually used to detect whether a person has synaesthesia with the letters. For a synaesthetic person who sees the image on the left, different colours are activated for the 'S' and the '2' as in the image on the right (source: Student Society for Science) |
The Findings
The research shows, on the one hand, that synaesthesia with letters is not
exclusive to spoken languages and that synaesthesia is not activated simply
by the shape of the letter but by the meaning of the letter, since people
who learned Sign Language in adulthood had transferred synaesthetic
sensations to Sign Language. On the other hand, it shows that the person is
not born synaesthete but becomes synaesthete and new forms of synaesthesia
can emerge.
The researchers conclude that the
implications of these results are very important because they show that
future research on synaesthesia in Sign Language can provide new data to
understand synaesthesia in general.
Sources:
- Atkinson, J., Lyons, T., Eagleman, D., Woll, B., y Ward, J. (2016). Synesthesia for manual alphabet letters and numeral signs in second-language users of signed languages. Neurocase, 1-8.
- Geggel, L. (2016, July 19). "Unusual Condition Lets People See Sign Language in Colors". In Live Science. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/55450-synesthesia-documented-in-sign-language.html
- Hamzelou, J. (2016, July 1). "First evidence that synaesthesia gives colour to sign language". In New Scientist. Retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/article/2095783-first-evidence-that-synaesthesia-gives-colour-to-sign-language
