Aleman et al. (2001)

From Psy3242

This study looks at the most common form of synesthesia, seeing words one hears in color (colored hearing). Aleman et. al. aimed to find if the primary visual cortex (V1) would be triggered when the subject heard a letter and did not have a visual stimulus in front of them. The subject of this study was a 32-year-old woman who reported having colored hearing since childhood. In the first test, she was asked to say what color she associated with each letter of the alphabet (alphabet-color test). Two years later, she was given the same test while undergoing fMRI. Despite the time span, she only missed one letter, for a 96% accuracy rate, suggesting that she did have colored hearing. Through fMRI, the researchers were able to pinpoint the location of activation and confirm that the primary visual cortex (V1) was activated. These findings are consistent with recent theories about synesthesia. Finally, the authors suggest further research should be conducted to see if other areas of the brain are activated, such as V4.