14 DAY TRIAL // Cambridge University scientists determined in a new study that people who suffer from autism spectrum disorders (ASD) make up the bulk of individuals suffering from synaesthesia. Individuals with this neurological condition can perceive two or more sensory sensations, even though only one stimuli is applied.
For example, a synaesthet can perceive each letter of the alphabet has having a particular color or smell attached to it. This reaction is involuntary, and is most likely produced by an unusual neural wiring pattern in the human brain. Scientists now say that this is more common in ASD patients.
In a paper published in the journal Molecular Autism, the Cambridge team says that roughly 18.9 percent of people with autism develop synaesthesia, whereas only 7.2 percent of individuals in the general population do the same. The research was conducted on 97 non-autism and 164 ASD test subjects.
“I have studied both autism and synaesthesia for over 25 years and I had assumed that one had nothing to do with the other. These findings will re-focus research to examine common factors that drive brain development in these traditionally very separate conditions,” says CambridgeAutism Research Center professor, Simon Baron-Cohen.