Increase Your IQ and Your Memory: Learn Synaesthesia

Some creative people see colours when they hear different sounds. Others see colours when they see words and numbers printed in black and white. These interesting people are called synaesthetes， and what they experience is called synaesthesia.

A. __________

A study at the University of Sussex is finding out how learning to see sounds as colours or think of letters in colour could improve your IQ and memory.

Study leaders Dr Daniel Bor and Dr Nicolas Rothen have been working on memory for a number of years. They want to see which parts of the brain do different jobs. Dr Bor says that carrying out these tests has given them the opportunity to find out more about how we use different kinds of memory.

B. __________

He explains that Professor Simon Baron Cohen， of the University of Cambridge， was largely responsible for beginning the modern science of synaesthesia in the 1980s. ‘He created a test to try and find out whether the experiences that synaesthetes have are the same over time. The tests showed that synaesthesia was real， and this made lots of scientists in different places want to do similar research. They wanted to know what synaesthesia is—what different kinds there are， and what creates it in the first place.’

C. __________

Dr Bor based his latest research around something scientists already know a lot about— ‘chunking’. He explains that this is a way of breaking large pieces of information into smaller units， to make it easier to remember. ‘When I give you my phone number， 01274737215， you probably remember it as 012 74 73 72 15， or something similar. If you can remember 012 and the first 74， you can remember the rest. You can get some amazing benefits from chunking.’

This is really important for understanding synaesthesia. Dr Bor says that synaesthesia adds extra information to things that are difficult to remember， such as letters and numbers， or extra colours. This helps us remember things better.

When Dr Bor first started talking about this 12 years ago， experts were interested， but at the time there was no supporting research. Now that has changed. There have been other studies showing the memory advantages of synaesthetes. And Dr Bor’s own study of one amazing person， who has both synaesthesia and a very strong memory advantage， supports this idea as well.

D. __________

‘All these signs are pointing towards synaesthesia being connected to greater abilities to do certain things， certain jobs，’ says Dr Bor. ‘So， the study began as a way to test that.’ They wanted see if they could create a way to learn synaesthesia， and develop those benefits for everyone.

They developed the study from an idea by Dr Nicolas Rothen who had trained people for ten minutes a day for a week. The results were not huge， but they were interesting. ‘My idea was to train them for a lot longer， and make the experience really interesting and enjoyable， so they would want to learn more and more，’ says Dr Bor. ‘I knew exactly how I wanted to teach them， to get the biggest benefits. We used those ideas in the study and we did see strong benefits.’

E. __________

They discovered that， after training， people were able to pass the normal synaesthesia tests， and their IQ jumped up about 12 points！ Although Dr Bor says they need to test the increase in IQ with different groups of people， the result is very interesting. ‘It’s very rare to read about a study which increases people’s IQs. Especially when the group are already quite clever， like the students who took part in this study.’

As Dr Bor says， ‘Synaesthetes， on the whole， are really pleased and proud that they are synaesthetes. They get a memory advantage and they see the world in this extra special way.’

Activity 1

Before you read， match the word or phrase to a definition.

1. a study 2. be responsible for something 3. benefit

4. technique 5. test 6. train

a. a good thing

b. a piece of research

c. a way of doing something

d. check an idea to find out if it is true

e. learn something; teach someone something

f. make something happen

Activity 2

The text has five paragraphs labelled A–E. Match the headings below to the paragraphs.

1. Information chunking

2. Training in synaesthesia

3. Amazing results

4. The beginning of a science

5. Studying memory

Activity 3

A. Which sentence is about…？

1. something happening now

2. something that is generally true

i. A study at the University of Sussex is finding out how to improve your IQ and memory.

ii. Synaesthesia adds extra information to things.

B. Choose the correct verb form in bold.

Example： Some creative people see/are seeing things we only hear.

1. I’m doing an interesting project. I’m finding out/find out how people remember phone numbers.

2. They’re carrying out/carry out a lot of memory tests at the moment.

3. I’m basing/base my research on an idea I had when I forgot my own phone number.

4. Our results are supporting/support their ideas.

5. We are developing/develop a number of tests each year.

Activity 4

Do you know anyone with synaesthesia？

If you could have any kind of synaesthesia， what kind would you choose？

Answers

Activity 1

1. b; 2. f; 3. a; 4. c; 5. d; 6. e

Activity 2

1. C; 2. D; 3. E; 4. B; 5. A

Activity 3

A. 1. i; 2. ii

B. 1. ‘m finding out; 2. carrying out; 3. ‘m basing; 4. support; 5. develop