A unique opportunity to explore perception
Synaesthesia is a fascinating phenomenon that can link any of the senses, most commonly vision and audition, offering an unusual perspective on perception.
You may have synaesthesia if you:
- see colours when you think of letters
- remember music by the visual patterns you see
- smell sounds
- feel tastes
- hear colours.
In synaesthesia, a stimulus in one sensory modality results in an additional unusual experience. For example, when hearing a sentence, a synaesthete may also see vivid colours accompanying each word. In other cases, the taste of certain foods might evoke specific tactile sensations.
Prevalence estimates vary from one in 500 for more common types such as letter-colour synaesthesia to one in 25,000 for rarer forms, for example, sound-odour synaesthesia.
Since synaesthesia rarely interferes with daily life, many people do not realise their perceptual experiences are unique. These additional experiences typically begin at a young age and remain consistent over time.
This artwork, titled “Water Blue” (2003) by Carol Steen, a US artist with synaesthesia, is an oil on paper piece (21.59 × 12.7 cm) inspired by her visual experience during an acupuncture treatment.
Our research
We have been studying synaesthesia since 1999: initially at Monash University with Professors John Bradshaw and Jason Mattingley, then in further studies at the University of Melbourne with Professor Jason Mattingley.
Since 2007, the Synaesthesia Research Group at Macquarie University, led by Professor Anina Rich in the School of Psychological Sciences, has furthered this research..
Synaesthesia offers a unique opportunity to explore how we perceive the world. By investigating the mechanisms behind synaesthetes' unusual experiences, we can:
- learn how the brain processes incoming information from the senses and puts together our conscious experience of the world
- understand the role of learning and experience in perception.
We use questionnaires, computer-based tasks and non-invasive brain imaging to explore the experiences of synaesthetes. These techniques allow us to examine the:
- characteristics of synaesthetes
- brain regions involved in their experiences
- role that attention and consciousness play in this fascinating phenomenon.
We are actively conducting research to understand synaesthesia and those who people experience it.
Our studies include online questionnaires and both online and lab-based experiments.
You can register to participate in our research and find more details about our current research opportunities below.
Questionnaires
If you or your child has synaesthesia and would like to share your experiences or participate in a study, please complete one of the following:
- comprehensive adult questionnaire: Suitable for adults and older children (with parental permission)
- child questionnaire: Designed and ethically approved for young children.
Current studies
- Mirror-Touch Synaesthesia: We are seeking individuals who feel touch on their own body when seeing someone else being touched. If this describes you, please complete our short 10-minute mirror-touch screener questionnaire.
- Visual Motion-Sound Synaesthesia: We are seeking individuals who experience sounds in response to visual motion, such as hearing tones or other auditory sensations when watching objects move. If this describes you, please complete our Visual Motion-Sound Synaesthesia questionnaire.
- Auditory-Visual Synaesthesia: If sounds evoke visual experiences for you, please participate in our online audio-visual questionnaire.
Let us help you discover more about your unique perception of the world.