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SO ENDS this first of two weekends on synesthesia. When you buy a car, in general, the more complicated it is, the more there is that can malfunction. As engines go, the human body is about as complicated as they come, with millions of control points that can malfunction. In this regard, it is surprising that it works at all. It is likely that many functional faults do not let the zygote get beyond the starting blocks, and they simply vanish. View in LinkedIn

BELL CURVE. “Furthermore, evidence suggests that synesthesia may in fact be a graded phenomenon in the general population, creating the possibility that non-synesthetic relatives of synesthetes show endophenotypes of the condition, complicating the use of family linkage analyses.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

MULTIPLICITY. “A polygenic origin is likely, as transmissibility is heterogenous and synesthetes often possess multiple forms.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

GENDER NEUTRAL. “Previous studies examining the prevalence of synesthesia found a significant gender gap with a 6∶1 ratio of female synesthetes to males, leading to the suggestion that synesthesia was an X-linked condition. However, prevalence studies conducted using random sampling have shown an even distribution of synesthesia among the genders, suggesting the discrepancy was based on methodological flaws and self-report biases in earlier studies.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

NON CLUSTERING. “However, non-clustering forms still co-occur with greater frequency than predicted by prevalence rates in the general population, significantly impeding theories of single genetic markers and the notion of independence among different forms of the condition.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

CLUSTERING. “Further, while individual synesthetes often display multiple forms of the phenomenon, large-scale factor analyses suggest that some variants co-occur with greater frequency within a single individual, suggesting that some forms are more highly related (i.e., local “clustering” or “islands” of synesthesia types), which is suggestive of a common origin.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

PROPENSITY TO LINK. “However, the specific form of synesthesia an individual expresses can vary within families, suggesting the genetic undertones impose a predisposition to synesthesia but not its expression. Indeed, individuals with one type of synesthesia are much more likely to have another as well, an observation that was adduced by Ramachandran and Hubbard as support for the idea that the defective pruning gene or genes confer a general propensity to linking unrelated sensations or even concepts.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

FLY-FETAL HUMAN BRAIN TREATMENT. "A mixture of human fetal brain and Notch Drosophila melanogaster neural embryonic tissues were transplanted into the ventro.lateral nucleus of the thalamus of the patients of Parkinson' disease. As a result, tremor and constrained movements disappeared. Post-operation patients have been observed within 13-38 months. No side effects were noted during this time." https://lnkd.in/dtj4FWt View in LinkedIn

HUGE VARIATION. “At least 60 different forms of synesthesia have been documented (i.e., different combinations among the senses), reflecting the extreme heterogeneity of the condition, and one could easily assume that each type of synesthesia is caused by a unique gene or set of genes.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

INSECT TO VERTEBRATES. "It was concluded that there is a possibility to incorporate nerve cells of insects into the brain of vertebrates." https://lnkd.in/dtj4FWt View in LinkedIn