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Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Available online 3 August 2012 In Press, Uncorrected ProofNote to users

Review

Sensory substitution as an artificially acquired synaesthesia

Jamie Ward
,

, Thomas Wright

School of Psychology & Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK Received 20 January 2012. Revised 18 July 2012. Accepted 26 July 2012. Available online 3 August 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.07.007, How to Cite or Link Using DOI Permissions & Reprints

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Abstract
In this review we explore the relationship between synaesthesia and sensory substitution and argue that sensory substitution does indeed show properties of synaesthesia. Both are associated with atypical perceptual experiences elicited by the processing of a qualitatively different stimulus to that which normally gives rise to that experience. In the most common forms of sensory substitution, perceptual processing of an auditory or tactile signal (which has been converted from a visual signal) is experienced as visual-like in addition to retaining auditory/tactile characteristics. We consider different lines of evidence that support, to varying degrees, the assumption that sensory substitution is associated with visual-like experiences. We then go on to analyse the key similarities and differences between sensory substitution and synaesthesia. Lastly, we propose two testable predictions: firstly that, in an expert user of a sensory substitution device, the substituting modality should not be lost. Secondly that stimulation within the substituting modality, but by means other than a sensory substitution device, should still produce sensation in the normally substituted modality.

Highlights
We put forward a new working definition for sensory substitution devices. We review the criteria for classifying sensory phenomena. We review synaesthesia among users of sensory substitution devices. Two testable hypotheses are put forward. We propose that sensory substitution may be an acquired synaesthesia.

Keywords
Sensory substitution; Synaesthesia/synesthesia; Multisensory; Touch; Vision; Hearing

Figures and tables from this article:

Fig.1.The basic principles of sensory substitution. In a typical SSD the source modality would be visual information, Sensor 1 would be eyes, and sensor 2 would be the skin or ears. An artificial sensoris typically a camera, the coupling system is the software and the target modality is the hardware relating to the substituting modality (e.g. headphones, vibro-tactile

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array). View Within Article

Fig.2.In the study of von Melcher et al. (2000), ferrets had one intact hemisphere and one rewiredhemisphere in which the retina send inputs to the medial geniculate nucleus and thence to the auditorycortex. During training, the ferrets are presented with auditory and visual stimuli to the intact hemisphere (left and middle panels respectively) and trained to go to one of two spouts depending on the stimulus modality. At test (right panel), they were presented with visual stimuli to the rewired hemisphere and the animals spontaneously went to the visual-related spout suggesting that the auditory modality had been substituted by vision. View Within Article

Corresponding author at: School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK. Tel.: +44 0 1273 876592; fax: +44 0 1273 678058.
Copyright 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Note to users: Uncorrected proofs are Articles in Press that have been copy edited and formatted, but have not been finalized yet. They still need to be proof-read and corrected by the author(s) and the text could still change before final publication. Although uncorrected proofs do not have all bibliographic details available yet, they can already be cited using the year of online publication and the DOI, as follows: author(s), article title, journal (year), DOI. Please consult the journal's reference style for the exact appearance of these elements, abbreviation of journal names and use of punctuation. When the final article is assigned to an issue of the journal, the Article in Press version will be removed and the final version will appear in the associated published issue of the journal. The date the article was first made available online will be carried over.

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