1 Synesthetic associations and psychopathological symptoms Marcel Necká Abstract Synesthesia in general is a phenomenon of intersensory and intrasensory linkage that may be observed in various conditions including artistic creativity and also manifests in conditions of various brain dysfunctions and injuries. Synesthesia is a phenomenon represented by transmodal associative connections that may represent a continuum from strong synesthetic phenomena to its mild forms that may enable creation of "synesthetic" metaphors. This study is focused on projective assessments of word-color association and their relationship to psychopathological measures reflecting stress, depression, dissociation and other psychometric measures in 154 participants selected from general population. The results are in agreement with previous reported studies suggesting that lighter colors are more frequently associated with positive emotional meanings. In addition the results indicate significant relationships of color- word associations to some specific words with depression, anxiety, alexithymia and symptoms of traumatic stress. These results are in ac-cordance with existing findings in context of the so-called metaphorical synesthesia where significant role might be attributed to color intensity. In this context, results of this...

This bachelor thesis aims to research how, and in what way, the creative process of composing music and improvising can be helped by the use of external methods. The thesis researches the subject from a mostly synesthetic point of view, to explore how visual association and perception can be a source of inspiration and contribute with material when composing and improvising. The thesis also deals with existing research about synesthesia, visual association, multi-stimuli correspondences and the relation between different parts of the conscious. I’ve formed methods using visual material sprung from my own synesthetic sensations, and used these when composing music for vocal, piano and string quartet. The material forming the methods consists of paintings, photos, colored texts and color-associated chord charts.  By incorporating these methods in my own composing, I’ve found that the use of external methods is beneficial to the process and, in that sense, can help its development. I´ve gained a deeper understanding for how my own creative process is affected by the creative element in the visually associative work, such as painting and working perceptually with lyrics and storytelling. I’ve further reflected on how the visual association can be a source for composing, and by doing so, I’ve become more aware of the meaningfulness of allowing myself to use all sides of my conscious in the process of composing and improvising. / <p><strong>Repertoar:</strong></p><p>Yellow Sky, Black Sea</p><p>Above Clouds</p><p>Blue</p><p>About Red</p><p>Story Of A Tree</p><p>Time Goes Too Slow (So Watch My Running Heart) </p><p>Samtliga kompositioner är skrivna av Selma Pinton.  </p><p></p><p><strong>Medverkande musiker:</strong></p><p>Selma Pinton - sång</p><p>Max Agnas - piano</p><p>Clara Lindström - violin I</p><p>Sara Nyman Stjärnskog - violin II </p><p>Ragnhild Kvist - viola </p><p>Hillevi Rasmusson Klingberg - cello </p>

The purpose of this interdisciplinary study was to examine the behavior of two artificial neural networks cross-wired based on the synesthesia cross-wiring hypothesis. Motivation for the study was derived from the study of psychology, robotics, and artificial neural networks, with perceivable application in the domain of mobile autonomous robotics where sensor fusion is a current research topic. This model of synesthetic sensor fusion does not exhibit synesthetic responses. However, it was observed that cross-wiring two independent networks does not change the functionality of the individual networks, but allows the inputs to one network to partially determine the outputs of the other network in some cases. Specifically, there are measurable influences of network A on network B, and yet network B retains its ability to respond independently.

Color ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of color. Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one sensory modality or cognitive pathway leads involuntarily to experiences in a second modality or cognitive pathway. Synesthetic colors are thus colors reliably induced by non-visual stimuli. Currently, there is no philosophical theory of color that explicitly addresses synesthetic color. This omission raises three questions which underlie this thesis. How would the main theories in color ontology interpret synesthetic colors? Which, if any, of these theories would be able to treat synesthetic color as being more than misperception? What would be the costs of adopting such a theory? In Part I, I introduce and discuss four prominent theories of color: physicalism (chapter 1), eliminativism (chapter 2), role functionalism (chapter 3), and sensory classificationism (chapter 4). In Part II, I introduce perceptual pragmatism as an alternative to these views. Perceptual pragmatism consists in the defence of two main theses: (i) that colors are properties of interactions between a color perceiver and an external stimulus that induces color experience, and (ii) that perceptual states are correct insofar as they are useful to the perceiving organism. In chapter 5, I defend the first thesis. In chapter 6, I defend the second thesis. In chapter 7, I assess each theory’s ability to account for synesthetic color. In chapter 8, I address the common sense objection that colors do not look like properties of events. In conclusion, I find perceptual pragmatism to be the only theory capable of offering a satisfactory account of synesthetic color. However, it is also the theory most at odds with common sense. I conclude that if we want a theory that can account for the uncommon colors of synesthesia, we must reject the common sense view of color. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / Color ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of color. Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one sensory modality or cognitive pathway leads involuntarily to experiences in a second modality or cognitive pathway. Synesthetic colors are thus colors reliably induced by non-visual stimuli. As it stands, there is no philosophical theory of color that explicitly addresses synesthetic color. Of the current theories in color ontology I argue that only one—perceptual pragmatism—is able to offer a satisfactory account of synesthetic color. However, perceptual pragmatism is also the theory most at odds with common sense. I conclude that if we want a theory that can account for the uncommon colors of synesthesia, we must be willing to reject the common sense view of color.

This dissertation investigates the turn of the century fascination with synesthesia and efforts by Modernist artists and writers to produce cross-modal works that attempt to defy sensory boundaries. Works of impossible art are artistic and literary experiments with style and form that develop out of the realism and naturalism of the nineteenth century, to be sure; they are also conceived of by their creators as scientific experiments that test what is possible at the limits of perception. Accordingly, while my work is situated within the field of aesthetics, I take a neuroscientific approach to aid in understanding the modes of perception these works are attempting to explore. My project applies the findings of recent neuroscientific studies into clinical synesthesia as a guide for thinking about these Modernist works. The methodology of neuro-aesthetics allows me to develop a theory of sensory mimesis. Sensory mimesis is a holistic approach to explaining phenomenological experience that depends on a sensory semantics, more fundamental and more comprehensive than a linguistic semantics, that I propose filters our access to the world. What we ultimately learn from impossible art is that the range of neurodiversity in humans is broader than we tend acknowledge or appreciate. The notoriously indefinable and uncategorizable character of queer theory is an applicable framework to match the innumerable neurocognitive possibilities that are actually available. To this end, my dissertation suggests that a shift to a neuro-queer-aesthetic paradigm would not only expand human perceptive possibilities, but also enable compassionate engagement within and among our diverse communities. / English

Our Third Ear aims to create a multi-sensory experience by fusing sight, touch, and sound. By creating a means of physically feeling music, listeners can connect with songs, bands, and individual musicians on a profoundly personal level. The potential for unintended applications like learning to play an instrument, broadening the understanding of music for people with hearing impairments, or providing a means of therapy are also exciting prospects. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the process involved in creating a multi-sensory experience of music from concept to prototype. The culmination of interdisciplinary research and a broad range of creative technologies resulting in a working system. The multi-sensory experience consists of primarily tactile, but also visual responses triggered by music and executed in conjunction with aural music. Tactile investigation involved varied tactile sensations such as vibration, temperature, pressure, proprioception, and touch. Further research questioned the practicality, feasibility, and psychological impacts of using such sensations as well as where on the body such sensations would optimally be received. Visual research involved the visual representation of notes, chords, and sounds, as well as, how music could directly affect visuals in a real time environment. Additional research explored active interaction and passive interaction of visual cues using human computer interfaces. / Master of Fine Arts

Synaesthesia is a variation of normal human perception. A grapheme synaesthete, for example, can experience extra sensations, such as colours when seeing letters and/or numbers. Synaesthetic ability is commonly developed at an early age, and is linked to a genetic pre-disposition; however, there is a learnt component, as one must also learn to read and write to develop grapheme synaesthesia. To explore the extent to which synaesthesia can be learnt, a training method was employed, which was first used by Colizoli, Murre and Rouw (2012). In order to learn their own coloured letters a group of non-synaesthetic individuals read colour books, which are free eBooks reproduced to have four letters consistently appear in colour. Before and after reading, the participants completed a modified Stroop-design based on Mills (1999), which was used to measure if they had learnt the two key characteristics of synaesthesia, namely an involuntary and automatic reaction to letters. Both the colour reading (n=15) and control (n=6) groups did not have a significant involuntary reaction to letters. However, it was found that the participants had significantly more automatic reactions to letters. This included the control group, who did not read in colour, which suggests that merely completing the modified Stroop test is enough to learn the automatic characteristic of grapheme synaesthesia. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Synaesthesia is a variation of normal human perception. A grapheme synaesthete, for example, can experience extra sensations, such as colours when seeing letters and/or numbers. Synaesthetic ability is commonly developed at an early age, and is linked to a genetic pre-disposition; however, there is a learnt component, as one must also learn to read and write to develop grapheme synaesthesia. To explore the extent to which synaesthesia can be learnt, a training method was employed, which was first used by Colizoli, Murre and Rouw (2012). In order to learn their own coloured letters a group of non-synaesthetic individuals read colour books, which are free eBooks reproduced to have four letters consistently appear in colour. Before and after reading, the participants completed a modified Stroop-design based on Mills (1999), which was used to measure if they had learnt the two key characteristics of synaesthesia, namely an involuntary and automatic reaction to letters. Both the colour reading (n=15) and control (n=6) groups did not have a significant involuntary reaction to letters. However, it was found that the participants had significantly more automatic reactions to letters. This included the control group, who did not read in colour, which suggests that merely completing the modified Stroop test is enough to learn the automatic characteristic of grapheme synaesthesia. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

“The Sixth Sense: Synaesthesia and British Aestheticism 1860-1900” is an interdisciplinary examination of the emergence of synaesthesia conceptually and rhetorically within the ‘art for art’s sake’ movement in mid-to-late Victorian Britain. Chapter One investigates Swinburne’s focal role as both theorist and literary spokesman for the nascent British Aesthetic movement. I argue that Swinburne was the first to practice what Pater meant by ‘aesthetic criticism’ and that synaesthesia played a decisive role in ‘Aestheticising’ critical discourse. Chapter Two examines Whistler’s varied motivations for using synaesthetic metaphor, the way that synaesthesia informed his identity as an aesthete, and the way that critical reactions to his work played a formative role in linking synaesthesia with Aestheticism in the popular imagination of Victorian England. Chapter Three explores Pater’s methods and style as an ‘aesthetic critic.’ Even more than Swinburne, Pater blurred the distinction between criticism and creation. I use ‘synaesthesia’ to contextualise Pater’s theory of “Anders-streben” and to further contribute to our understanding of his infamous musical paradigm as a linguistic ideal, which governed his own approach to critical language. Chapter Four considers Wilde’s decadent redevelopment of synaesthetic metaphor. I use ‘synaesthesia’ to locate Wilde’s style and theory of style within the context of decadence; or, to put it another way, to locate decadence within the context of Wilde. Each chapter examines the highly nuanced claim that art should exist for its own sake and the ways in which artists in the mid-to-late Victorian period attempted to realise this desire on theoretical and rhetorical levels.

<p>In printed text, sound is a somewhat forgotten aspect. The recitation of text is vital in areas like poetry and oratory, but still has no distinct technique of being communicated. Emphasis of a word might be expressed through italics, but no canonic character set or system for vocal delivery of texts exists. With this essay we are creating a foundation for a development of such a character set or system. By studying existing visualisations of sound and comparing these with semiotic and perception-based theories we obtain useful insights for a prospective system for visualisations of vocal sounds.</p><p>We conclude that the aspects of sound one wants to visualise must be carefully defined since the viewer cannot process infinite amounts of information. A sound visualisation system does not have to consist of multiple characters or signs to be effective, but had better be built around a strong code to manage the signs into a working system. Creating a context for the signs is also recommended in order to be able to compare signs with eachother.</p>