September 2008
8 posts
“We report a case study of an individual (TE) for whom inanimate objects, such as letters, numbers, simple shapes, and even furniture, are experienced as having rich and detailed personalities. TE reports that her object-personality pairings are stable over time, occur independent of her intentions, and have been there for as long as she can remember…We also found that TE’s eye movements can be biased by the emotional associations she has with letters and numbers. These findings demonstrate that synesthesia can involve complex semantic personifications, which can influence visual attention.”
—MIT Press Journals - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience - Abstract
“Cave is a giver on stage. There is no holding back, no wastefulness, no taking it for granted.”
—NPR: The Fall
“…such behavior could be traced back to an ancient urge. In our past lives as hunters and gatherers, we humans practiced animism, the belief that when people or animals die, their remaining life force, or soul, is transferred onto ordinary objects. This philosophy, which eased the awful finality of death, has long since been replaced by those that purport to be more rational. Nonetheless, our animistic impulses remain— and, according to Muensterberger, are at the root of our compulsion to collect… “a more or less perpetual attempt to surround oneself with magically potent objects….The compelling concern is to go in search, to discover, to add to one’s store, or holding, or harem.”
—The Island of Lost Maps, by Miles Harvey
“seeking individual(s) interested in working in a challenging environment where the explicit meanings of words matter”
—ISCHOOLDISCUSSION archives — August 2008 (#45)
