synaesthesia

Noun

synaesthesia (countable and uncountable, plural synaesthesiae or synaesthesias)

1. A neurological or psychological phenomenon whereby a particular sensory stimulus triggers a second kind of sensation.
   • M. [Théodore] Flournoy includes all the phenomena of "Colored Hearing" and of "Mental Forms" under the convenient and adequate name Synæsthesia—in place of which, to be sure, he himself usually employs the less defensible term Synopsie. […] The phenomena of synæsthesia are divided into three main...1893 July, Mary Whiton Calkins, “De Phénomènes de Synopsie. Par Th. Flournoy. Paris, Alean, 1893. [book review]”, in G[ranville] Stanley Hall, editor, The American Journal of Psychology, volume V...
   • Probably in all of us, though in some men much more distinctly than in others, there exist certain synæsthesiæ or concomitances of sense-impression, which are at any rate not dependent on any recognisable link of association.1903, Frederic W[illiam] H[enry] Myers, “Sensory Automatism”, in Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death … In Two Volumes, volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green, and Co., […]...
2. (broadly) The association of one sensory perception with, or description of it in terms of, a different perception that is not experienced at the same time.
   • On a phonemic level, phenomena of synesthesia have often been described and studied. Practically all children and a good many adults—though for the most part adults will deny it—spontaneously associate sounds, whether phonemes or the timbre of musical instruments, with colors and forms.1963, Claude Lévi–Strauss, “Postscript to Chapters III and IV”, in Claire Jacobson, Brooke Grundfest Schoepf, transl., Structural Anthropology: Translated from the French (Harper Torchbooks; TB5017)...
   • For one of the enigmatic features of synaesthesia is that, within a given cultural group, the kinds of associations made by different subjects occur according to statistically verifiable recurring patterns. As Jakobson explains, ‘when we ask whether /i/ or /u/ is darker, testing such phonic...2007, Boris Wiseman, “Structuralism, Symbolist Poetics and Abstract Art”, in Lévi-Strauss, Anthropology, and Aesthetics (Ideas in Context; 85), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 112
3. A literary or artistic device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another.
   • Linking moods with colours is one example of synaesthesia. […] As a tool for improving writing, the idea of synaesthesia is versatile and innovative. Why use only visual references to describe visual impressions? Why just describe sounds using sound-related words? Play with cross-matching the...2006, Stephen Bowkett, “Descriptive Writing”, in Boys and Writing (Pocket PAL), London: Network Continuum Education, Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 38
   • [I]t may be stated that the concept of synaesthesia is instrumental for understanding music videos, since videos are based on the soundtrack's visual associations. Yet to discuss associations here may cause some problems. […] [Nicholas Cook] seems to be relying on a rather normative conception of...2007, Antti-Ville Kärjä, “Visions of a Sound Nation: Finnish Music Videos and Secured Otherness”, in Roger Beebe, Jason Middleton, editors, Medium Cool: Music Videos from Soundies to Cellphones...