Synesthesia Contributors

Estimates are that approximately 3-5 percent of the population has some form of synesthesia. Recent research estimates that equal numbers of males and females are synesthetes. The phenomenon of synesthesia likely stems from normal cognitive development in utero and early childhood. The baby’s brain is growing at an incredibly rapid rate during the third trimester of gestation. Between 25 weeks and 40 weeks, the size or weight of the brain increases every 48 hours. 250,000 nerve cells, or neurons, form every minute, and 1.8 million connections between those nerve cells form every second. After birth, as the brain differentiates early in life, many of these connections are pruned away—especially ones that are not being used. (Thus, the recommendation to talk, talk, talk, sing, sing, sing, and read, read, read to the newborn starting at birth!) There is speculation that synesthesia may arise from an incomplete shedding of these connections.

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