DO NOT CITE AND DO NOT QUOTE.
Before responding to this discussion, please read Ch. 13 as well as the pdf provided for you in the Ch. 13 Course Content folder called “Born on a Blue Day”, which is the first chapter of a book by Daniel Tammet. Daniel Tammet is a high-functioning individual with Asperger’s and savant syndrome. In addition, he has a very unusual perceptual condition called synesthesia. Synesthesia is a condition in which a stimulus in one sensory modality consistently triggers a response in another sensory modality. Ch. 13 of your textbook gives the example of color-music synesthesia, when particular pitches, notes, or chords elicit experiences of particular visual colors. Your textbook makes a strong case for the idea that your perceptual experience of the world is actually created by the actions of your nervous system. Define synesthesia and discuss what you have learned about this neurological condition. Tie in your discussion of synesthesia with your textbook’s idea that the perceptions you experience are actually created by your brain. Describe some of Daniel’s examples or those that you found in the textbook or online of what it’s like to experience more than one sensory modality for a single stimulus. Based on what you have learned in your textbook and this class, what do you think causes synesthesia to occur in these individuals?