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Brain Advance Access originally published online on November 21, 2008
Brain 2009 132(1):65-70; doi:10.1093/brain/awn304
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© The Author (2008). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Grapheme-colour synaesthetes show increased grey matter volumes of parietal and fusiform cortex

Peter H. Weiss1,2 and Gereon R. Fink1,2,3

1 Cognitive Neurology, Institute of Neuroscience and Biophysics - Medicine, Research Center Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany 2 Brain Imaging Centre West, Research Center Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany 3 Department of Neurology, Cologne University Hospital, 50924 Cologne, Germany

Correspondence to: Dr Peter H. Weiss, Cognitive Neurology, Institute of Neuroscience and Biophysics—Medicine, Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany E-mail: P.H.Weiss{at}fz-juelich.de

In synaesthesia, stimulation of a sensory modality triggers abnormal additional perceptions. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used in 18 grapheme-colour synaesthetes to investigate the neuro-anatomical basis of their abnormal perceptions. More specifically, we tested the hypothesis that in synaesthesia altered connectivity in temporo-occipital and parietal areas may be associated with grey matter (GM) changes. The data reveal increased GM volumes in fusiform and intraparietal cortices. These findings are consistent with the two-stage model of grapheme-colour synaesthesia implying cross-activation at the level of the fusiform gyrus (FG) and ‘hyperbinding’ at the level of the parietal cortex. The observed structural differences in grapheme-colour synaesthetes with abnormal additional perceptions may also shed some light on the neural bases of abnormal perceptions in neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Key Words: voxel-based morphometry; parietal cortex; fusiform gyrus; colour area; V4/V8, grapheme area (VWFA)

Abbreviations: CIP, caudal intraparietal area; DTI, diffusion tensor imaging; FG, fusiform gyrus; GM, grey matter; IPS, intraparietal sulcus; MNI, Montrael Neurological Institute; ROI, Region of interest; VBM, Voxel-based morphometry; WM, white matter

Received March 2, 2008. Revised October 13, 2008. Accepted October 15, 2008.


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