Every sound and every note has a specific color and sometimes shape. Listening to music creates wondrous seas of vivid color dancing across the field of vision, purple blobs pulsing and dissipating, and waves of green cresting and crashing above a deep blue ocean of melodies. Synesthesia is a neurological condition or gift that affects 2-4% of the general population (PLoS Biology 2011). It presents itself in many different forms, some more common than others. Although synesthesia is not a new discovery, there are still many mysteries as to where the gene is located, how it is inherited, and why the gene has been conserved throughout time. A battery of tests are available to help diagnose synesthesia but do not check for all types. The effects …show more content…
They claimed to see music, letters, and numbers as colors. Today, this condition is known as synesthesia but back then, people did not know what it was. If synesthesia was present in the Renaissance era, is it possible that it was also around before then? Scientists are focusing their research on why the synesthesia gene has been conserved throughout history and why natural selection has not disposed of it. Some believe that synesthesia is epiphenomenal and the genes for it do not serve much of a purpose. “It is also possible that the gene(s) may have been retained simply because they did not incur a great enough cost to be purged by selection, and could be an example of an evolutionary spandrel” (PLoS Biology 2011). Another hypothesis is whether synesthesia has a secret advantage similar to sickle cell patients having resistance to malaria. Because many people with synesthesia are artists, it is thought that the secret advantage is a higher level of creativity. Although there is no confirmation on disease resistance, research has validated that there are many cognitive and sensory processing benefits to having synesthesia. These benefits could be why the synesthesia gene has been conserved throughout history. Also, memorizing and processing information is much easier (Hupé 2012). In order to fully grasp the advantages of having synesthesia, the genetic …show more content…
This neurological condition connects two or more sensory areas of the brain and allows the interaction of one sense with another. With multiple forms of this condition, scientists have not narrowed down the exact genetic cause of synesthesia because they believe that the gene(s) for each form could be at different loci. Many exams are available to test for synesthesia although most were created to diagnose the grapheme-color form because it is the most common. Scientists continue to research how synesthesia is inherited and how the gene has been conserved throughout time, as well as if there are any advantages to having this condition. Synesthesia can be a blessing, but it can also be a curse. There is no “off” button for synesthesia and synesthetes must live with it and learn to tune it out when they need