In December 2014, I became a post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. Tobias Donner. The topic of this project is neuromodulation of perceptual decision making. This research is funded by the Human Brain Project. 

 

 

Pavlov: Synesthesie

We zijn op TV!   
Serie portretten door de ogen van de wetenschap. Bekende Nederlanders stellen een vraag aan de wetenschap. -Paul Rabbering is 3FM-dj. Hij is synestheet: zintuigen lopen bij hem door elkaar. Hoe zit dat in zijn hoofd?

• Pavlov: Synesthesie

Published!

Pseudo-synesthesia through reading bookswith colored letters. PLoS One, 2012
Open Access Journal!
We are very pleased to finally see the results in print.  If anyone has questions about the materials used, please email me. 
O.Colizoli@uva.nl

• Original Article: Pseudo-synesthesia through reading books with colored letters

A chat over synesthesia, neuroscience and ethics

Lidell Simpson interviewed me at the University of Amsterdam Feb 27, 2012.

• Olympia Colizoli talks about synesthesia and neuroscience PART 1

• Olympia Colizoli talks about synesthesia and neuroscience PART 2

Synesthesia

Synesthesia, in general, is a huge area of interest for me.  
To one synesthetic person, middle C when played on a violin is dark red and smells like baked bread. Synesthesia is a rare condition in which a stimulus from one modality automatically triggers unusual sensations in the same and/or other modalities. Neuroimaging and behavioral studies have repeatedly confirmed synesthesia as being a real phenomenon, in contrast to mere associations or vivid mental imagery. There are many different types of synesthesia, most of which involve sensory perceptions, but there are also more conceptual or abstract forms of it.   The subjective reports from synesthetes themselves in combination with recent technological advances (fMRI, DTI, VBM, EEG, TMS) provide cognitive scientists with an amazing opportunity to understand how a phenomenological experience arises out of a certain pattern of connectivity within the brain. 
If you are synesthetic or would just like more information about synesthesia, please do not hesitate to contact me - my door is always open!

• LIKE our facebook page! Synesthetic Software

Check out the NEWS tab for stories about synesthesia research at the UvA!

Synesthesie Testen en Vragenlijsten

We zijn op zoek naar synestheten in Nederland... de nieuwe UvA synesthesie website is nu klaar!

• http://www.synesthesie.net

• http://www.synesthesie.net/testen-voor-synesthesie/

Are you synesthetic?

Yes? No? Not sure?
There is an online testing service developed by Dr. Eagleman's lab in Houston, TX.  These tests begin with a questionnaire about your experiences, and offer 7 different types of tests (mostly color related). In the end you will get your score, and we will also be able to see if you are synesthetic or not.  (The time it takes depends on how manytypes of synesthesia you mave have - it is possible to log-in and log-out to complete the battery at different times.)

Note: They may ask for the email address of a synesthesia researcher - please use R.Rouw@uva.nl.
In case you are synesthetic or not, we are always looking for motivated participants for our research at the UvA. We currently have several studies going on, including reading in color, andwe are now looking for family members of synesthetes.
Als je het liever in het Nederlands wil doen, kunnen wij je Nederlandstalige vragenlijsten sturen.

• The Synesthesia Battery

Reflectionist Photography

Marcia Smilack
" I hear with my eyes and see withmyears."
Several of Marcia's pictures are on display during the Synesthesia Prada Willy exhibit . Marcia is one of my favorite artists, capturing moments in time that just make so much sense when you see them, but would otherwise go totally unnoticed by me. Thank you, Marcia, for being such an inspiration.
"The way I taught myself photography is to shoot when I hear a chord of color, which is one of my Synesthetic responses to what I see.  I knew nothing about photographyat the time so decided to just trust what I hear in my mind's eye. I use my Synesthetic responses as reliable signals that tell me when to take a picture -- at the moment that the color I am staringat createsthe sound of cello, for example, which for me is not a metaphor but rather the way I perceive the world. The name for this phenomenon is Synesthesia, but I was twenty-five years old before I heard that word or understood that everyone does not perceive the world as I do." Marcia Smilack

• Marcia Smilack - HomePage

My Synesthetic Library

Carrie C. Firman
Interactive and illustrative synesthesia using new media
This is one of my favorite websites - make sure to check out 'My Synesthetic Library' for an illustration of Carrie's ownsound->shape synesthesia.
"My current body of work encourages its participants to reconsider perception as an entirely unique phenomenon. Understanding that the simplest noise means different things to someone else is key for a peaceful, equal community. Often inspired by studying and experiencing synesthesia (the involuntary crossing of the senses), my projects begin with a vision that I press toward unrelentingly." Carrie C. Firman

• Carrie C Firman - Home Page

• 'My Synesthetic Library'

The Shape of Sounds

Timothy B Layden
"The Shape of Sounds is a series of sound and visual art developed by synesthetic artist Timothy B Layden. The work explores how the invisible world of sound  can manifest itself visually through an overlapping of the senses." Timothy B. Layden
Simply amazing...

• The Shape of Sounds - Timothy B Layden

Kaitlyn Maria Filippini

A classical/rock violinist, artist, composer, arranger, and entrepreneur of the music performance business Eloquent Acoustics.
Kaitlyn is also a synesthete (multiple forms).

• kaitlynmariafilippini.com

• Kaitlyn's Youtube channel

SYNAESTHETIC

Caitlin Gianniny
A wonderful illustration of Caitlin's grapheme-color synaesthesia (one of the most common forms of synesthesia, and definitely the most studied type).
"Synaesthetic experiences are completely unseen by anyone except the person perceiving them,but make up a normal part of daily life for synesthetes. By finding visual ways of communicating the experience of synaesthesia, I am looking to open up common ideas of perception and memory encouraging people to see the multiplicity of experience." Caitlin Gianniny

• SYNAESTHETIC

SynesthesiaVisualization

Cassidy Curtis
An interactive illustration of grapheme-colorsynesthesia.
Try it yourself! And check out the link "What is synesthesia?"

• www.otherthings.com

• Synesthesia: Art and the Mind

Synesthetics

Cretien van Campen
Synesthesie in kunst en wetenschap - Nederlandse informatiepagina over synesthesie
(Synesthesia in art and science - Information in Dutch about synesthesia)
Cretien van Campen has written several books:
Gekleurd Verleden
The Hidden Sense
Tussen Zinnen
Check out his website, and make sure to click on the "Synesthesia in art and science" link!

• www.synesthesie.nl

Sensequence

Angela Meder & Andreas Mengel
Upload your own synesthetic experiences and check out how other people experience days, weeks, months, numbers and letters - do they have colors? Are the colors like your own?
Click on "Gallery"!

• Sensequence

Sean Day

Co-founder of the American Synesthesia Association
His website has TONS of information on synesthesia. Be sure to check it out! He also has many links to other synesthesia websites...and a list of famous synesthetes!
Sean Day was interviewed about his own synesthesia (video link below).

• Sean Day - Home Page

• "Synesthesia: A Film by John Fowler"

An Eyeful of Sound

Samantha Moore
"It's about audio-visual synaesthesia and I collaborated with Dr Jamie Ward (a neuro-psychologist) and several people with synaesthesia to try and make a film about what it's like to have this condition."
It took almost 3 years to finish!

• Watch"An Eyeful of Sound" Trailer

• An Eyeful of Sound blog

The Center of Our Minds (TED lecture)

Vilayanur Ramachandran
Ramachandran is a pioneer of the neuroscience of synesthesia and one of the most famous and successful neuroscientists in the world today.
"Brain researcher Vilayanur Ramachandran talks about how brain damage can reveal the connection between the internal structures of the brain and the corresponding functions of the mind. He discusses three specific syndromes: phantom limb pain, synesthesia (when people hear coloror smell sounds), and the Capgras delusion, when brain-damaged people believe their closest friends and family have been replaced with imposters."

• The Center of Our Minds

This is Krause

Krause is a Dutch musician and artist. She tastes most words and many sounds.  I am also a big fan of her music!
Check out the Pavlov TV program we were all on with guest Paul Rabbering, where we try and unlock the mystery of the synesthetic brain!
http://www.uitzendinggemist.nl/afleveringen/1291827 

• http://www.thisiskrause.com/

Dancing Lights by Lidell Simpson

"A synesthesia inspired music/video incorporating the sounds I hear with my vision to sound synesthesia. This video made the top 20 in the MuVi3 visual music competition hosted by the Fundación Internacional Artecittà, Granada Spain"         
 
Great job, Lidell!!          
 
If you want to know more about Lidell's synesthesia, read the interview "The Sound of Silence" with Lidell by Maureen Seaberg.

• Dancing Lights - Youtube

• The Sound of Silence: An interview with Lidell Simpson by Maureen Seaberg

Dianaband: ring ring rain

A sound wall! This is a great example of synesthetic art:  " If you reach into the rain, the rain forms droplets upon our palms. If we try to touch them, they are absorbed or seemingly run away. Have we ever really touched falling rain drops before?  Our imagination of the world tends to be subject to visual experiences.  Water drops are embossed on moassive sheets of paper. The paper visualizes a rainy environment and gives us a chance  to touch water drops and also to let you listen attentivley to rainfall. " 
 
Touch + Motion + Sound = more than the sum of its parts!

• dianaband website, installation: ring ring rain

• ring ring rain on Vimeo

TED... Neil Harbisson: I listen to color

Another GREAT TED talk about merging the mind and technology! 
  
Artist Neil Harbisson was born completely color blind, but these days a device attached to his head turns color into audible frequencies. Instead of seeing a world in grayscale, Harbisson can  hear  a symphony of color -- and yes, even listen to faces and paintings.

• TED: Neil Harbisson, I listen to color

Got an interesting link?

Please let me know, and I'll add it to the list!!

Background

Olympia Colizoli, PhD

Background

I was born and raised in Shaker Heights, OH.  As a high-school student, a keen interest in astronomy got me an internship at NASA Glenn Research Center, where I worked during holidays for 2 years with my mentor Dr. Robert Romanofsky in microwave engineering.   

I have a B.Sc. in mathematics and philosophy ( Cum Laude ) from Tulane University of New Orleans, Louisiana. I began as a biomedical engineering student. However, I soon realized that I had too much passion for philosophy, art and traveling (things that an engineering schedule did not permit time for!). The biggest influence during my bachelor education has been Dr. Radu Bogdan, who was pioneering cognitive science at Tulane.   

From 2005 to 2006, I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico and worked for Dr. Tony C. Smith at a physical chemistry company that specializes in the repair and rebuilding of high-tech vacuum and optical equipment.  

In 2008, I graduated from the Research Master of Cognitive Science at the University of Amsterdam, in the Brain and Behavior track ( Cum Laude ).  The Master has since been renamed Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Cognitive Neuroscience track).  During the master, I was awarded the prestigious Dutch Huygens Scholarship (HSP) from the Nuffic organization in 2007-2008.   

On March 18th, 2014, I defended my PhD thesis entitled: Individual Differences in Visual Perception and Memory. (Supervisors: Prof.dr. Jaap M.J. Murre and Dr. Romke Rouw)

I am very happy to be in Amsterdam and am extremely grateful to be able to continue my research in the Brain and Cognition Department of the UvA. 

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