Synesthesia May Explain Healers Claims of Seeing People's 'Aura'

[Tank]

Synesthesia May Explain Healers Claims of Seeing People's 'Aura'

ScienceDaily (May 4, 2012) — Researchers in Spain have found that at least some of the individuals claiming to see the so-called aura of people actually have the neuropsychological phenomenon known as "synesthesia" (specifically, "emotional synesthesia"). This might be a scientific explanation of their alleged ability.

In synesthetes, the brain regions responsible for the processing of each type of sensory stimuli are intensely interconnected. Synesthetes can see or taste a sound, feel a taste, or associate people or letters with a particular color.

The study was conducted by the University of Granada Department of Experimental Psychology Óscar Iborra, Luis Pastor and Emilio Gómez Milán, and has been published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition. This is the first time that a scientific explanation has been provided for the esoteric phenomenon of the aura, a supposed energy field of luminous radiation surrounding a person as a halo, which is imperceptible to most human beings.

In basic neurological terms, synesthesia is thought to be due to cross-wiring in the brain of some people (synesthetes); in other words, synesthetes present more synaptic connections than "normal" people. "These extra connections cause them to automatically establish associations between brain areas that are not normally interconnected," professor Gómez Milán explains. New research suggests that many healers claiming to see the aura of people might have this condition...

Another example of the institutionalised curiosity trumping institutionalised superstition.

[The Magic Pudding]

I don't see auras but the bouba/kiki effect seems kinda obvious.

The Bouba/Kiki Effect is a non-arbitrary mapping between speech sounds and the visual shape of objects. This effect was first observed by German-American psychologist Wolfgang Köhler in 1929.[1] In psychological experiments, first conducted on the island of Tenerife (in which the primary language is Spanish), Köhler showed forms similar to those shown at the right and asked participants which shape was called "takete" and which was called "baluba" ("maluma" in the 1947 version). Data suggested a strong preference to pair the jagged shape with "takete" and the rounded shape with "baluba".[2]

In 2001, Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Edward Hubbard repeated Köhler's experiment using the words "kiki" and "bouba" and asked American college undergraduates and Tamil speakers in India "Which of these shapes is bouba and which is kiki?" In both the English and the Tamil speakers, 95% to 98% selected the curvy shape as "bouba" and the jagged one as "kiki", suggesting that the human brain is somehow able to extract abstract properties from the shapes and sounds.[3] Recent work by Daphne Maurer and colleagues has shown that even children as young as 2.5 (too young to read) show this effect.[4]

Ramachandran and Hubbard[3] suggest that the kiki/bouba effect has implications for the evolution of language, because it suggests that the naming of objects is not completely arbitrary. The rounded shape may most commonly be named "bouba" because the mouth makes a more rounded shape to produce that sound while a more taut, angular mouth shape is needed to make the sound "kiki". The sounds of a K are harder and more forceful than those of a B, as well. The presence of these "synesthesia-like mappings" suggest that this effect might be the neurological basis for sound symbolism, in which sounds are non-arbitrarily mapped to objects and events in the world.

[Ali]

Synesthesia sounds amazing. 

The Bouba/Kiki effect is really interesting.  I too immediately "knew" that Kiki was pointy and bouba was round. 

I wonder if that's why we call them boobs?

[xSilverPhinx]

I wonder if that's why we call them boobs?

Brilliant

[OldGit]

Synaesthesia was very popular with certain Romantic (and later) poets - e.g Keats.  So we've known about it for a long time.

[pytheas]

If you eat the appropriate type of mushroom you may see an aura around people you love and menacing black holes in people you don't.

I enjoy induced synesthesia, keeps me fit, especially when it wears off.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

I feel quite John Deere green today, and it tastes spring outside. My computer smells very oppressive, and the trees outside my window are tugging at my arms and shoulders.

[The Black Jester]

I feel quite John Deere green today, and it tastes spring outside. My computer smells very oppressive, and the trees outside my window are tugging at my arms and shoulders.

Careful what you put in that salad...