Alexandra Rieger

We investigated the perception of music in a cognitive musicology study, employing behavioral methods to examine general associative patterns--i.e. the propensity for subjects to recruit associations when listening to music, reminiscent of synaesthetic cross-wiring (Cytowic, 2009). Although non-Synaesthetic associations to music are less explored, experiments such as Köhler’s (1929) linguistic “Kiki, Boulba” study, demonstrated associations in non-synaesthetes, supporting the hypothesis that general listeners engage cross-sensorial connections.

Our research explores theories based upon past behavioural studies and FMRI scans with Synaesthetes and general listeners. FMRI experiments have revealed that the cross-modal associations to sounds in Synaesthetes are less pronounced, yet still present in the general population. The results of our psycho-musicology study with 40 Synaesthetes and 40 non-Synaesthetes reveal a quasi-Synaesthetic [Nikolic, 2014] spectrum extending to general listeners, similar to culturally founded Synaesthesia [Kohler].