The Synaesthesia of a Blind Subject, With Comparative Data From an Asynaesthetic Blind Subject #270424

1. General Introduction<br><br>In a recent monograph (11) the senior writer reviewed the general subject of synaesthesia and described a very complicated case in a blind reagent. In that investigation it was found that the reagent not only associated a color or a certain degree of brightness with every sensory experience other than the visual but also that these same colored associates invariably appeared in his processes of thinking wherever imagery was employed. The investigation here reported is largely concerned with a description of these analogous associations in certain of the higher a intellectual processes.<br><br>Out of the vast amount of literature on synaesthesia we find very little mention of the existence of synaesthetic phenomena in connection with mental processes other than that of perceiving. In no instance has a case in the realm of thinking been fully described. In fact we do not know to what extent, in the. same individual, synaesthetic phenomena appear both in perceiving and in thinking. So far as our knowledge goes no case has ever been reported in which colored associates or allied associated imagery appeared in thinking but not in perceiving. There seems to be good reason for believing that where such phenomena appear in perceiving, they likewise occur in thinking and that the failure to report this fact, generally, in the literature on synaesthesias has been due to superficial investigations of the phenomena.