
One aspect of the phenomenon is that different people do not have the same experience. For example, letters do not produce the same color for everyone.
The Biological Basis of Synesthesia
Some scientists believe that synesthesia results from "crossed-wiring" in the brain.
They hypothesize that in synesthetes, neurons and synapses that are "supposed" to be contained within one sensory system cross to another sensory system. It is unclear why this might happen but some researchers believe that these
only later are the connections refined.
In some studies, infants respond to sensory stimuli in a way that researchers think may involve synesthetic perceptions.
It is hypothesized by these researchers that many children have crossed connections and later lose them. Adult synesthetesmay have simply retained these crossed connections.