Synaesthesia: a distinct entity that is an emergent feature of adaptive neurocognitive differences

The aim of this paper considers the phenomenology of synaesthesia (its defining characteristics and relation to similar entities). In particular, it makes the claim that it is not on a continuum with neurotypical cognition, by which it is meant that one cannot rank non-synaesthetes along some hypothetical synaesthesia spectrum. However, there may be continuity in the underlying disposition to develop synaesthesia which, among synaesthetes, results in some synaesthetes having more extreme profiles (more types of synaesthesia, more atypical cognition, and – presumably – more atypical brains). Finally, the paper will argue that the benefits of having synaesthesia lie primarily in the accompanying cognitive profile than in the (defining) unusual experiences themselves.