Synesthesia & Autistic Features in a Large Family:evidence for spatial imagery as a common factor

Publication date: Available online 9 January 2019

Source: Behavioural Brain Research

Author(s): Lucie Bouvet, Frédérique Amsellem, Anna Maruani, Adelaïde Tonus-Vic Dupont, Alexandre Mathieu, Thomas Bourgeron, Richard Delorme, Laurent Mottron

Abstract

Background

Autism and synesthesia are neurodevelopmental conditions associated with variants of perceptual processing. They also share some genetic variants and include a large magnitude of intra-categorical variation: 60 types for synesthesia, as well as a spectrum for autism. In order to investigate the relationship between these two phenomena, we investigated the family of FC, an autistic individual who also possess savant abilities and synesthesia manifestations.

Method

Autistic symptoms were assessed for the entire sample of participants entering the study (39 individuals) using the SRS. Participants above threshold were evaluated with standardized diagnostic tools. Synesthesia was explored in the entire participating sample using a self-reported questionnaire. Consistency tests were used for participants who reported synesthetic manifestations.

Results

In addition to FC, four individuals with ASD were detected. Fifteen participants self-reported synesthesia (15 sequence-space, 4 sound-shape, 4 lexical-color), among which nine sequence-space synesthetes satisfied the consistency criteria. Two participants possess both autism and synesthesia.

Conclusion

This family illustrates the co-segregation of autism and synesthesia. This co-segregation is in favour of a partially overlapping genetic predisposition for both conditions, but also authorizes a large variety of manifestations in both conditions. The high prevalence of sequence-space synesthesia in this family strengthens the previous assumption that this form of synesthesia may be linked to autism. We discuss the potential role of spatial imagery in the development of this form of synesthesia and savant abilities.

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