Biology 202 Web Paper 1

The word synesthesia comes from two Greek words, syn (together) and aisthesis (perception); so synesthesia literally means, "joined perception." (1) I became interested in synesthesia when I learned a friend of mine has this neurologically based phenomenon. She associates colors with letters of the alphebete – most known case of synesthesia to the public. Synesthesia, however, can involve any two or more senses. Current research suggest that “wires” in a person’s brain between two or more sense are crossed, therefor producing the phenomon of tasting sounds and hearing tasts or any other unique combination.

The notion of “shyness” is something most of us know quite well. In fact, according to prevalence studies, somewhere around 40-50% of American adults have first-hand experience on what it’s like to be chronically shy (1). Although differing from the Big Five personality trait of introversion, in that shy people are in fact fearful of social interaction while introverts merely prefer solitary environments, chronic shyness is often categorized as a characteristic trait (2). The precursor for this shyness trait is frequently cited as the temperament of behavioral

This feels like my ordinary nighttime routine: yellow light, static screen, wooden chair, pins and needles. Needles and pins? My foot has fallen asleep again – and yet, as that thought comes to me, I immediately question it: has my foot itself really turned off, or is it just that my mind has stopped registering the foot? Is my foot ignoring stimuli from the outside world, or is it simply unable to deliver the stimuli it does receive to my brain? I wonder what the relationship is between numbness and neurology. If I don’t feel a body part, does that automatically mean the part isn’t working? What if no “part” even exists outside of my

“Blind since birth, Marie-Laure Martin had always thought that candle flames were big balls of fire. The 39-year-old woman couldn’t see the flames themselves, but she could sense the candle’s aura of heat. Last October, she saw a candle flame for the first time. She was stunned by how small it actually was and how it danced. There’s a second marvel here: She saw it all with her tongue.”