psychology -"synestesy"?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : History & Theory of Psychology : One Thread

I am not sure how the word is spelled in english, but in norwegian it is called "synestesi". It is a fenomenom that occurs if you think of the word "boat", you also see the color of purple or a fruit, like an apple. When I think of the days of the week, I see Tuesday as yellow, Wednesday as light grey, Thursday as dark purple, Friday as red and so on.. So my question is: Why does this happen? I study psychology myself, but I could not find anything about it in my books. I know I have read about it though..

-- Hege Iren Pedersen (hege_iren@hotmail.com), April 08, 2004

Answers

"Synaesthesia" is the word in English. I would think most perception textbooks would have a unit on the phenomenon. Also, try the APA's Encyclopedia of Psychology, and search the term in PsycInfo.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), April 08, 2004.

See also Werner, Heinz (1940). Comparative psychology of mental development. NY: International Universities Press, Inc.

-- Joseph Druker (joseph.druker@med.va.gov), April 08, 2004.

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