Synaesthesia

From + Î±á¼´ÏƒÎ¸Î·ÏƒÎ¹Ï‚ ("sensation"), modelled after anaesthesia. It is analysable as - + syn + aesthesia.

Full definition of synaesthesia

(countable and uncountable; plural synaesthesias)

(neurology, psychology) A neurological or psychological phenomenon whereby a particular sensory stimulus triggers a second kind of sensation. from late 19th c.

1 July 1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer Chapter 18, Into her darkness, a churning synaesthesia, where her pain was the taste of old iron, scent of melon, wings of a moth brushing her cheek.
2002, Sean A. Day, Language, Vision and Music: Selected Papers from the 8th International Workshop on the Cognitive Science of Natural Language Processing, Galway, Ireland 1999 Chapter What Synaesthesia Is (and Is Not), For example, I myself have a type of synaesthesia: The sounds of musical instruments will sometimes make me see colors, about a yard in front of me, each color specific and consistent with the particular instrument playing.
2009, Graham Richards, Psychology: The Key Concepts Chapter , Synaesthesia can occur particularly powerfully during mescalin and LSD intoxication, and is often given mystical significance.

(by extension) 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.

1963, Claude LÃ©viâ€“Strauss, Structural Anthropology: Translated from the French Chapter Postscript to Chapters III and IV, On a phonemic level, phenomena of synesthesia have often been described and studied. Practically all children and a good many adultsâ€”though for the most part adults will deny itâ€”spontaneously associate sounds, whether phonemes or the timbre of musical instruments, with colors and forms.
2007, Boris Wiseman, LÃ©vi-Strauss, Anthropology, and Aesthetics Chapter Structuralism, Symbolist Poetics and Abstract Art, 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, â€˜when we ask whether /i/ or /u/ is darker, testing such phonic oppositions as grave vs. acute, some of the subjects may respond that this question makes no sense to them, but hardly one will respond that /i/ is the darker of the twoâ€™.

(arts, literature) A literary or artistic device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another.

2006, Stephen Bowkett, Boys and Writing Chapter Descriptive Writing, 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 senses.
2007, Antti-Ville KÃ¤rjÃ¤, Medium Cool: Music Videos from Soundies to Cellphones Chapter Visions of a Sound Nation: Finnish Music Videos and Secured Otherness, It 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 synaesthesia, which for its part supports the idea of absolute, nonrepresentational music. The implication of his discussion is that the "true" forms of musicâ€“image synaesthesia come only in the forms of perception of color or light when hearing a certain musical sound.