PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT OF SYNESTHESIA AND FEATURES OF SYNESTHETIC PERCEPTION OF DEAF PEOPLE
The article is devoted to synesthesia, its study from the point of view of psychology and neuropsychology, features of synesthetic perception and importance of synesthesia for deaf people. The author refers to the works of modern researchers of synesthesia in the field of psychology and neuropsychology and examines various types of synesthetic reactions and associations. Synesthesia researchers study this phenomenon comprehensively, in the sensoryperceptual-cognitive continuum. Synesthetic stimuli and reactions are related to perception and can be considered in terms of its emotional component. It is emphasized that synesthesia affects the individual’s memory, in particular, A. R. Luria, who investigated the phenomenon of synesthesia, believes that synesthetic sensations contribute to better memorization of information, especially perceived from hearing. A. R. Luria notes that at hearing perception of a word, its phonetic component remains on the last place, and the dominant meaning is semantic. In synesthesia, a brighter visual and auditory image is attached to the perception of meaning. When memorizing, the visual component of the image remains the leading one. For deaf people, the meaning itself, perceived with the help of sign language, is already assigned to the visual component. But this is not always a visual image. The author refers to the testimonies of deaf people, who describe their synesthetic experience, showing that the absence of hearing is not an obstacle to the perception of sound, which can be felt by other senses, touch and vision.