title: Synthetic synaesthesia and sensory substitution.
abstract: Visual information can be provided to blind users through sensory substitution devices that convert images into sound. Through extensive use to develop expertise, some blind users have reported visual experiences when using such a device. These blind expert users have also reported visual phenomenology to other sounds even when not using the device. The blind users acquired synthetic synaesthesia, with visual experience evoked by sounds only after gaining such expertise. Sensorimotor learning may facilitate and perhaps even be required to develop expertise in the use of multimodal information. Furthermore, other areas where expertise is acquired in dividing attention amongst cross-modal information or integrating such information might also give rise to synthetic synaesthesia.
authors.affiliation: Biological & Experimental Psychology Group, School of Biological & Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. m.proulx@qmul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Proulx
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001766:Blindness / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D012682:Sensory Aids / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*