Posted in Serendip , March 2 1997

A recent experiment was performed, where individuals observed the moving lips of other experimental subjects. The observers' cortical areas' activity were monitored. The results were:
When lips were moved without forming words, no activity was present in the observers' AUDITIVE cortical area. watching the moving lips.
BUT if the lip mover was actually 'lip talking,' there was activity, as if the tested subject was actually HEARING.

Curiously enough, some months ago, a 2 yr. old grandchild of mine was sucking ice, which in Hebrew is pronounced "keh'rakh." For fun, I asked her if she liked "keh'akh," as she could not yet prounce the 'r'. She shouted back at me,

"Not ke'hakh....ke'hakh!"

It appeared as if she was hearing herself pronounce the 'r' sound. I thus realized that there is a connection between what one hears or sees and correlated sensorial cortical areas.
. And why should this be surprising? After all, the name "synesthesia" is applied to a pathological state whereby the stimulation of one sense gives rise to a perception related to another sense. Colors are 'tasted' or 'smelled'...