Music-colour synaesthesia: Concept, context and qualia.
Consciousness and Cognition May 1, 2018 Caroline Curwen
Music-colour synaesthesia, the experience of seeing colours when hearing music, may not be fully explained by the traditional theories of hyperconnectivity or disinhibited feedback that treat it as a purely perceptual phenomenon. A review of eight neuroimaging studies indicates that these explanations cannot be directly applied to music-colour synaesthesia. The concept of 'ideaesthesia' and the role of conceptual and semantic triggers challenge the idea of a single underlying mechanism, arguing against a purely sensory-to-sensory explanation. This form of synaesthesia also poses challenges for established philosophical theories, and its position is considered within the broader context of musical qualia.