The Aesthetic Appeal of Auditory-Visual Synaesthetic Perceptions in People without Synaesthesia

Abstract

The term ‘visual music’ refers to works of art in which both hearing and vision are directly or indirectly stimulated. Our ability to create, perceive, and appreciate visual music is hypothesised to rely on the same multisensory processes that support auditory – visual (AV) integration in other contexts. Whilst these mechanisms have been extensively studied, there has been little research on how these processes affect aesthetic judgments (of liking or preference). Studies of synaesthesia in which sound evokes vision and studies of cross-modal biases in non-synaesthetes have revealed non-arbitrary mappings between visual and auditory properties (eg high-pitch sounds being smaller and brighter). In three experiments, we presented members of the general population with animated AV clips derived from synaesthetic experiences and contrasted them with a number of control conditions. The control conditions consisted of the same clips rotated or with the colour changed, random AV pairings, or animated clips generated by non-synaesthetes. Synaesthetic AV animations were generally preferred over the control conditions. The results suggest that non-arbitrary AV mappings, present in the experiences of synaesthetes, can be readily appreciated by others and may underpin our tendency to engage with certain forms of art.

Neuroaesthetics and beyond: new horizons in applying the science of the brain to the art of dance

“…The complex and scenographic use of human bodies evokes visceromotor and somatomotor resonance, in addition to activating emotional and reward-related centers within the brain (Cinzia and Vittorio 2009). Recent research seems to suggest that multisensory perceptions are generally preferred to perceptions in just one of the sensory domains (Ward et al 2008). To this end, dance might be a particularly good candidate art form for investigating more complex questions of aesthetic appreciation as watching dance evokes sensation across the visual and sensorimotor domains (and the auditory domain as well, if music or sound is involved).…”

Visualized voices: A case study of audio-visual synesthesia

“…In the general population, high pitch is linked to upper space and smaller size, whereas low pitch is linked to lower space and larger size (Ben-Artzi & Marks, 1995;Gallace & Spence, 2006;Walker et al, 2010). The same trends have been noted in synesthetes (e.g., Ward et al, 2008), but there have been no empirical studies that directly compare between synesthetes and controls for size and spatial location.…”

“…Finally, all participants drew a rough sketch of the sound indicating its size and shape using a graphite pencil. Participants were not given explicit guidance except that controls were asked to keep them abstract (see also Ward et al, 2008). The participants could listen to the sound again during this procedure, but was not allowed to go back after each trial was completed.…”

“…However, for other synesthetes all types of auditory stimuli evoke visual experiences and these are by no means limited to color. Different sounds may elicit different colors, shapes, textures, movements, and sizes appearing in different locations in space (e.g., Ward, Moore, Thompson-Lake, Salih, & Beck, 2008). Color and texture perception recruit similar neural mechanisms, and this may tend to lead to associations that are not purely color based (Eagleman & Goodale, 2009).…”

The Development of a Scientific Understanding of Synesthesia from Early Case Studies (1849–1873)

“…It is characterized by an atypical merging of sensory and/or cognitive functions. For example, people with synesthesia may experience colors from reading letters and numbers (e.g., Ramachandran & Hubbard, 2001a), or they may experience complex visual photisms while listening to music (e.g., Ward, Moore, Thompson-Lake, Salih, & Beck, 2008). Equally, they may experience tastes in the mouth when reading words (e.g., or they might see numbers in fixed spatial arrays (e.g., Sagiv, Simner, Collins, Butterworth, & Ward, 2006).…”