Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which the stimulation of a sensory or cognitive pathway causes a second sensory or cognitive pathway. There are varying types of synesthesia in which taste and shapes, sound and color, and other mixes of senses are paired in a reaction. The cognitive perspective “examines human thought and behavior in terms of how we interpret, process, and remember environmental events. The strategies and schemas that we use to view the world are important to understanding why we think and behave the way we do.” Because synesthesia involves how people interpret, process, and, often times, remember events, the cognitive perspective has a strong presence in The Man Who Tasted Shapes. Additionally, the strategies and …show more content…
Only a few weeks after discovering Michael’s gift, Cytowic came upon Victoria when his beeper noisily sounded during a meeting with the synesthete. Victoria’s synesthesia is marked by converging sounds, especially high-pitched or loud ones, with sight, colors and shapes (p. 48). Like Michael, Victoria hid her difference in perception from people in fear that she would be perceived as crazy. Her profession as a psychologist furthered her fear of being ridiculed as it could dismantle or affect her reputation and credibility. Victoria’s case was yet another notch in Cytowic’s belt on his way to unveiling synesthesia’s secrets. Through Victoria’s synesthesia, Cytowic was able to compare how ‘normal’ people perceived sounds in relation to sight. These comparisons allowed for Cytowic to uncover the one-to-one nature of synesthesia, a key aspect of the condition that sets synesthetes apart from people who cannot consistently match a single sound to sight. Cytowic concluded that there is no universal algorithm or translation for synesthesia; each case and synesthete is unique and individual in their perceptions and experiences (p. 59). This creates a difficulty for those studying synesthesia and for the study of the condition. However, it also adds to the unique nature of the condition and clearly amplified Cytowic’s …show more content…
The original study of patient S began with A. R. Luria, writer of The Mind of a Mnemonist. Luria’s research of thirty years began as an interest to understand S’s indelible memory, not his synesthesia (p. 33). It was not until Cytowic began his research that the link between memory and synesthesia became apparent. Yet, this supposed improved memory is more complex than it appears. “‘What they really recognize as familiar is the synesthetic sensation.’ ... they recall the color, or whatever, more than the fact attached to it’... You remember the sensation better than her name. When you find out her name again, then you’re sure because the synesthesia that goes with is exactly the same as it was the last time.’ … ‘It is the sensation that is memorable, not the name. The name is just the semantic baggage attached to it’” (94). S was the perfect example of this memory oddity because his prestigious memory sometimes included mistakes. However, his mistakes were due to him not seeing the item, not that he had forgotten. Cytowic’s discovery of synesthesia’s connection with memory is only one of many theories he created following his work with the
Losses, Excesses, Transports, and The World of the Simple are all four topics in the book “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales,” by Oliver Sacks. You might not understand what those mean or discuss until you realize who Oliver Sacks is. Oliver Sacks is a Neurologist who has had the chance to take upon these twenty-four case studies and share them in a book. The book is more focused on neurological functions, different forms of the mind, and hallucinations/visions. All of these are related to the first few chapters in our Psychology textbook (Chapters 2,3,6,8,10). Oliver Sacks gives us clear insight into the mind of those that perceive things much differently than most. It is a clear insight to what most of us are curious about but may not fully understand.
The merging of certain senses points to a crossing of signals in the brain. Although the theory is an old one, it has come to the forefront of the scientific researcher's minds, with increased focus on the topic.
However, in regards to amnesic patients, the SMC has proven to be more widely accepted due to reported results implying that the hippocampus is important in consolidating LTM. In contrast, in anterograde patients, memories can be retrieved through recollection and familiarity. In fact, it has been proposed that the recollection process is mediated by the hippocampus.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Therefore, they summarize that the reason why Clive suffers in the Amnesia is caused by the hippocampus is not affected. The Hippocampus is a structure that is located inside the temporal lobe, and that is a part of the limbic system. The function of the Hippocampus is similar to a post office used for encoding, storage and recalling memories, all presenting information would first remain, analysed and encoded in the Hippocampus then transmit them to different areas of the brain. In other words, Clive is unable to encode memory and hold information which is currently aware, and it is difficult to form new long-term memory such as explicit and semantic memory. Clive Wearing, now 78 years old, still cannot recover from the anterograde amnesia, he becomes a man who has the shortest memory in the world.
These four different studies of different types of synaesthesia and the McCollough effect have proven that synaesthetes are likely to have an easier time memorizing and recalling information because of their associations with numbers, odors, people, and music. It allows them to be consistent with the information they provide, as well as, accurate. Synaesthesia is not an intentional phenomenon, nor can it be easily learned. It is a circumstance that is unique to every individual that has it and no two synesthetes are the same or have the same
Synesthetic perceptions are involuntary and are reliably triggered by the phenomena that induce them.
The occurrence of synaesthesia in the adult population has been estimated between 1 in 2,000 and 1 in 25,000. There has been evidence that women are more likely to have it, with around six times more females than males. Findings state there can be a genetic predisposition transmitted by an X-linked autosomal dominant gene. Through the more recent studies of synaesthesia they have researched a possible biological cause instead of damage to the brain. One of the propositions is the connectivity between brain areas that help to further the relevant sensory modalities. For example, color-phonemic synaesthesia might result from additional synaptic connections between brain regions that are responsible for processing auditory inputs and those involved in color perception.
Schacter, D. L., & Slotnik, S. D. (2004). The cognitive neuroscience of memory distortion. Neuron, 44, 149-160.
As no two synesthetes’ share the same experience, a synesthete is more likely to feel alone with no support. Descriptions of their experiences can often be met with disbelief and ridicule, causing young children to question the validity of their experiences. Synesthetes also suffer from common stereotypes. The media have led to the spread of the erroneous belief that synesthetes are left-handed, creative, artistic, and bad at math. However, research has proved the first three as an invalid stereotype, while the last is specific to only certain types of synesthesia. ‘Sound to vision’ synesthetes face a safety hazard when sounds impact their vision. If a fire alarm is sounded, the synesthete may have difficulty exiting the building with impaired vision, causing them to bump and fall (listverse).
Human memory is flexible and prone to suggestion. “Human memory, while remarkable in many ways, does not operate like a video camera” (Walker, 2013). In fact, human memory is quite the opposite of a video camera; it can be greatly influenced and even often distorted by interactions with its surroundings (Walker, 2013). Memory is separated into three different phases. The first phase is acquisition, which is when information is first entered into memory or the perception of an event (Samaha, 2011). The next phase is retention. Retention is the process of storing information during the period of time between the event and the recollection of a piece of information from that event (Samaha, 2011). The last stage is retrieval. Retrieval is recalling stored information about an event with the purpose of making an identification of a person in that event (Samaha, 2011).
As brain systems begin working, memory also starts to work. (4). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid afor I am intrigued by the fact that short-term memory can work independently of long-term memory. While long-term memory can be achieved through the repetition of a fact that is in the short-term memory, it appears that in amnesiac patients their long-term memory tends to return faster than their short-term memory. They can remember their favorite childhood food, but cannot remember why they are in the hospital.
In the film, “The Man with the 7-Second Memory”, we are introduced to Clive Wearing who suffers from a rare and very severe form of amnesia.
Henry Molaison or known as HM contributes to the deep understanding of memory by previous scientists and until now. His case had been a huge research and discussions among the well known scientists during his time and these results in the study of memories. Henry Molaison is living with a severe epilepsy where he need to undergo a surgery as medications were no longer gave him effects for his disease. So, his surgeon William Beecher Scoville suction out both of his hippocampus and when he got recovered from the surgery, his doctor realised that, Henry was having amnesia and seek him for another doctor. What confusing the doctors is that, even though the surgery was a success where Henry seizures decreasing; he is now facing dense memory loss. Then, once it was realized that the hippocampus plays a crucial roles for memory; the surgery of removing hippocampus was then banned for all and this brings to deep study of memory and hippocampus.
...pporting details. At the conclusion of the article, the authors share their thoughts on how it might be virtually impossible to determine when a memory is true or false. I also like their willingness to continue the investigations despite how difficult it might be to obtain concrete answers.
Tulving, E. and Craik, F. (2000) The Oxford handbook of memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.