Musician tastes richness of symphony

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Hi All,

See the below for the pdf-available article.

C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y :

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Musician tastes richness of symphony

Last Updated Wed, 02 Mar 2005 19:04:26 EST

CBC News

LONDON - A musician who sees colour when she hears music can

also " taste " the flavours of tones such as a creamy harmony by Bach,

scientists say.

Swiss neuropsychologists recruited Sulston, a 27-year-

old professional musician, for a year-long study.

The subject found an octave has no taste.

Sulston, who has an average IQ, is a synaesthete – someone who

involuntarily experiences a crossover of senses from stimuli.

In this case, she sees colour when she hears a tone. To Sulston,

an F sharp looks violet and a C is red.

What makes Sulston's case remarkable is she also perceives a taste

corresponding to what she hears.

In Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, researchers said this

is the first known case of such a combined perception.

Lutz Jaencke of the University of Zurich and his colleagues tested

her gift at identifying tone intervals, the difference between two

notes.

In the first part of the experiment, researchers applied different

solutions tasting sour, bitter, salty and sweet to her tongue while

four musical intervals were presented.

Then the test was repeated, except that words describing the

tastes, rather than the tastes themselves, were shown to Sulston

before the tone intervals were played.

To Sulston, a minor second is sour, a major third sweet, a fourth

tastes like mown grass and a minor sixth like cream.

" Whenever she hears a specific musical interval, she automatically

experiences a taste on her tongue that is consistently linked to that

particular interval, " the scientists wrote in the journal.

She responded with perfect accuracy, and more quickly than five

other musician controls who don't have synaesthesia.

Sulston's " application of her synaesthetic sensations in

identifying tone intervals – a complex task that requires formal

musical training – demonstrates that synaesthesias may be used to

solve cognitive problems, " they concluded.

Cheers, Al Pater.