Summary

Synesthesia is a neurodevelopmental condition that causes 4.4% of the population to experience the world differently. For these individuals certain stimuli (e.g., letters of the alphabet) trigger a secondary experience (e.g., color perception). This process is automatic and remains consistent over time. Tests for measuring synesthesia have successfully built on this principle of synesthetic associations being consistent over time, and using this method a number of studies have investigated the heritability of the condition, cognitive differences that synesthetes have compared with non-synesthetes, and the neurological architecture of synesthete brains. These measures have largely focused on adult synesthetes for whom the condition is already fully developed. Since 2009 researchers have begun to also investigate childhood synesthesia, which has helped to advance our understanding of how this condition emerges. Drawing on both adult and child studies, we can better understand the neurological and cognitive implications of a lifetime of experiencing synesthetic associations.