Synaesthesia is not specific to autism, but it seems to be quite common among autistic individuals12.
In this article, we will explore the possible link between autism and synaesthesia, and how they may share some common features and mechanisms.
What is synaesthesia?
Synaesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon where one sensory stimulus triggers an involuntary and consistent response in another sensory modality or cognitive domain. For example, a person with synaesthesia may see the letter A as red, or hear a piano note as sweet.
Synaesthesia can occur between any combination of senses or cognitive domains, such as numbers, words, music, emotions, personalities, or time units. Synaesthesia is not a disorder or a hallucination, but a normal variation of human perception that affects about 4% of the population3.
What is autism?
Autism is a developmental condition that affects how people communicate and interact with others, and how they perceive and make sense of the world.
Autism is a spectrum condition, which means that it affects people in different ways and to varying degrees. Some common characteristics of autism include:
Difficulties with social communication and interaction, such as understanding facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, jokes, sarcasm, or metaphors.
Restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities, such as following routines, having specific preferences, or being fascinated by certain topics or objects.
Sensory differences, such as being over- or under-sensitive to sounds, lights, smells, tastes, textures, or touch.
Co-occurring conditions, such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, epilepsy, or sleep problems.
Autism affects about 1% of the population4, and it is more common in males than in females.
How are autism and synaesthesia linked?
Several studies have suggested that synaesthesia is more prevalent in autistic individuals than in the general population. For example, a study by Baron-Cohen et al. (2013) found that synaesthesia was nearly three times as common in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than in the general population (18.9% vs 7.2%)2.
Another study by Neufeld et al. (2013) found that synaesthesia was more than twice as common in children with ASD than in typically developing children (18.7% vs 7.5%).
The link between autism and synaesthesia may be explained by some common features and mechanisms that underlie both conditions. Some possible explanations are:
Genetic factors: Both autism and synaesthesia have a strong genetic component and tend to run in families23. Some genes that are associated with autism may also be involved in synaesthesia.
Brain connectivity: Both autism and synaesthesia may result from atypical wiring of the brain23.
Autistic individuals may have more local connections and less global connections between brain regions, while synaesthetes may have more cross-modal connections between sensory areas.
Perception: Both autism and synaesthesia may affect how people perceive and process sensory information13.
Autistic individuals may have enhanced perceptual abilities in some domains (such as visual acuity or pitch discrimination) but difficulties in others (such as face recognition or social cues), while synaesthetes may have superior memory or creativity but also sensory overload or confusion.
Cognitive mechanisms: Both autism and synaesthesia may involve some similar cognitive mechanisms, such as hyper-systemizing2, weak central coherence, or enhanced mental imagery.
Hyper-systemizing refers to the tendency to analyse systems in terms of rules and patterns; weak central coherence refers to the preference for local details over global meaning; and enhanced mental imagery refers to the ability to generate vivid mental images.
Autism and synaesthesia are two fascinating conditions that affect how people experience the world through their senses. Although they are not exclusive to each other, they seem to be more common among people who have one or the other condition.
The link between autism and synaesthesia may be due to some shared genetic factors, brain connectivity patterns, perceptual processes, or cognitive mechanisms. Further research is needed to understand the nature and implications of this link for both autistic and synaesthetic individuals.
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