Altering functional connectivity in the brain by learning new associations
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2022-07-04
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en
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Abstract
Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which sensory or cognitive stimuli can lead to additional involuntary
experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. The most common form of synesthesia is
grapheme-color synesthesia. In grapheme-color synesthesia, viewing letters (graphemes) will elicit a
perception of color. In previous research, it is shown that synesthesia-like experiences can be
perceived by adults, who do not have synesthesia, by training specific letter-color associations. This
thesis builds upon this by examining whether the training of these letter-color associations has
altered the functional connectivity between regions of interest in the brain. Changes in functional
connectivity between regions of interest when a specific sort of stimuli is presented are compared
between pre-and post-training sessions and between conditions of interest. As a result of training
these letter-color associations, increases and decreases in functional connectivity can be observed
between regions of interest across the brain. We show that the functional connectivity in the brain is
altered, although not always in the direction that we expect.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen