SYNESTHESIA AND CREATIVITY: AN ANALYSIS OF HUMAN PERCEPTION

Abstract

Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to the automatic stimulation of a second pathway. Synesthesia can create a new form of perception that heightens the senses. Though there are a variety of studies on synesthesia characterizing it, distinguishing different types, and discovering the benefits it may offer, one of these main hypothesized benefits of synesthesia is enhanced creativity. In analyzing paintings from three synesthetic artists, Van Gogh, Kandinsky, and Munch, using an art historical lens, it can be seen how each of their synesthetic conditions heavily influenced their portrayal of personal sensation in art. In Part I of this thesis, I conducted a literature review to test my hypothesis that synesthesia is associated with improved creativity. The studies reviewed applied a variety of synesthesia tests to determine the type and extent of the synesthetes’ abilities, and different tests to quantify their creativity. The results from each of these studies support the hypothesis that synesthesia heightens creative abilities. In Part II, I analyzed data from young adult participants who voiced their thoughts in a Think Aloud Task under two conditions: an unprompted condition meant to capture spontaneous thought and one answering a creativity prompt. The participants self-rated the extent of their visual imagery while independent raters scored their overall creativity. In the creativity-specific task, increased visual imagery across participants predicted higher creativity scores. Additionally, one participant in the study self-reported being synesthetic and scored notably higher in both visual imagery and overall creativity than the average participant. In understanding the inner workings of synesthesia and its link to creativity, we can broaden our understanding of human perception.