title: Genuine and drug-induced synesthesia: a comparison.
abstract: Despite some principal similarities, there is no systematic comparison between the different types of synesthesia (genuine, acquired and drug-induced). This comprehensive review compares the three principal types of synesthesia and focuses on their phenomenological features and their relation to different etiological models. Implications of this comparison for the validity of the different etiological models are discussed. Comparison of the three forms of synesthesia show many more differences than similarities. This is in contrast to their representation in the literature, where they are discussed in many respects as being virtually similar. Noteworthy is the much broader spectrum and intensity with the typical drug-induced synesthesias compared to genuine and acquired synesthesias. A major implication of the phenomenological comparison in regard to the etiological models is that genuine and acquired synesthesias point to morphological substrates, while drug-induced synesthesia appears to be based on functional changes of brain activity.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Synesthesia Research, Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany. christopher.sinke@gmail.com
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sinke
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Halpern
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zedler
authors.forename: Janina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neufeld
authors.forename: Hinderk M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Emrich
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Passie
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects; D006213:Hallucinogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D000080311:Synesthesia
chemical_list: D006213:Hallucinogens