Why Does Evolution Allow Some People to Taste Words?

Sensory This merger, called synesthesia, Was first scientifically documented in 1812 widely Was Misunderstood soft for much of Its history, with the condition Many Experts Was thinking a form of mild insanity.




"It's not just that the number two is blue, soft two is Also a male number That wears a hat and is in love with the number seven," said study co-author David brang, of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD ).

"We're not sure f These personifications are [Also a symptom of] synesthesia, But we think this is what a lot of scientists Derailed from being Interested in it. ... These people thought They Were Making it all up."

(Related: "Ball Lightning May Be All in Your Head.")

Over the past 30 years, though, a Growing body of evidence has shown That synesthesia has a physical basis-for example, the brains of synesthetes are wired differently, and the condition is highly heritable, Which indicates there is a genetic component.

In fact, the study authors think it's a strange Phenomenon Possible Such has survived in an Evolutionary sense Because it offers people CERTAIN Benefits to creative thinking.

"Ninety-five to ninety-nine Percent of Their love synesthetes synesthesia and say it enhances developer's lives," brang said.

New Ways to See the Mind's Wiring

Early misunderstandings of synesthesia Were due in part Because the associations synesthetes describedat That Were very precise and Detailed, prompting Some Experts at the time to link the condition with mental disorders Such as Schizophrenia.

Another early "view synesthesia That Was Held a 'Throwback' to a more evolutionarily primitive state," said study co-author Vilayanur Ramachandran, a neuroscientist at UCSD Also.