DOI: 10.36871/hon.202002023
Authors
T. V. Kozlova
Russian State Specialized Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russian Federation
Abstract
The article is devoted to synesthesia, its study from the point of view of psychology and
neuropsychology, features of synesthetic perception and importance of synesthesia for deaf
people. The author refers to the works of modern researchers of synesthesia in the field of
psychology and neuropsychology and examines various types of synesthetic reactions and associations.
Synesthesia researchers study this phenomenon comprehensively, in the sensoryperceptual-
cognitive continuum. Synesthetic stimuli and reactions are related to perception
and can be considered in terms of its emotional component.
It is emphasized that synesthesia affects the individual’s memory, in particular, A. R. Luria,
who investigated the phenomenon of synesthesia, believes that synesthetic sensations contribute
to better memorization of information, especially perceived from hearing. A. R. Luria
notes that at hearing perception of a word, its phonetic component remains on the last place,
and the dominant meaning is semantic. In synesthesia, a brighter visual and auditory image is
attached to the perception of meaning. When memorizing, the visual component of the image
remains the leading one. For deaf people, the meaning itself, perceived with the help of sign
language, is already assigned to the visual component. But this is not always a visual image.
The author refers to the testimonies of deaf people, who describe their synesthetic experience,
showing that the absence of hearing is not an obstacle to the perception of sound, which
can be felt by other senses, touch and vision.
Keywords
synesthesia, perception, modality, deaf people, synesthetic reactions, ideasthesia
