For the quiz to determine synesthesia rates, I have decided to be simple and administer the quiz casually and in person, for example to my classmates during a grab block. I will have a spreadsheet that will contain the participant’s name, date, and then will ask them to select what color they associate with certain stimuli such as letters, numbers, musical notes, and words. They will pick the color from the color chooser on google drive. It is low-tech but it is easy and hopefully effective. I will then ask them again in 2 weeks plus or minus 3 days. Since March break is 2 weeks, I am thinking of doing experiment before and after the break. The reason I am going to ask them twice over time is because one of the defining characteristics of synesthesia is that it is consistent, i.e. the number 5 won’t be pink one day and blue the next in a synesthete. By spreading out the quizzes and asking the participants the same questions, I will be able to compare their answers. Those whose answers did not differ much over the 2 weeks are likely synesthetes. This quiz will cover a few types of synesthesia: number-color, letter-color, auditory/note-color, and word-color, though I might decide to add or subtract some aspects. My next steps are to finalize the quiz and think about what I am going to do with the data once I get it. Maybe I will perform another experiment with the synesthetes or interview them about their experiences.

I am beginning to research and I have found a lot of background information that I can use for my presentation, as well as some more specific information and studies that are just interesting to read. There has been a lot of research into getting non-synesthetes to develop synesthetic connections through different processes, for example hypnotism, and what that can tell us about how synesthesia develops. I did not mention in my last blog post that one of the reasons that I am interested in synesthesia is because I have number-color and number-letter synesthesia. (123456789, abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz). The numbers and letters don’t actually appear to me to be a certain color. Someone described how synesthesia is for me very well by saying that if you hear or see the word “banana,” you think of the color yellow in the back of your mind. It is like that for me but for all the letters and numbers, and there is no particular reason for the letters/numbers being the color they are for me. Other people sometimes have different experiences with synesthesia. Some synesthetes actually see a letter/number/word/note as a color. There is some great art in which people have painted what they see when they hear music or experience other stimuli. These are a few of the interesting things I have learned about in my research. Moving forward, I will begin to develop a quiz to find out the synesthesia rates at Emma Willard.

After a two meetings with Ms. Harrison, I have decided to focus my neuroscience project on synesthesia. Synesthesia is a condition that affects about 1 out of 20 people. It is Greek for senses coming together, which is an accurate definition. Synesthesia is a condition in which one stimulus triggers an unrelated stimulus of another sense. For example, the most common type is perceiving colors when one sees/thinks about numbers, letters, or words. More unusual types include seeing/perceiving colors when one hears music, and perceiving personalities for each letter or number. There are several different theories for how it starts. One is that all babies have synesthetic connections but they are pruned away in most brains. Another is that neurons associated with one sense turn up in the wrong part of the brain. For my project, I will present background information and identify the synesthesia rates in the community and possibly interview some people with synesthesia about their experiences. The next step is to research and to come up with a plan for identifying the synesthesia rates in our community.