Clocking time

• Autores: Caroline Williams
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3157-3158, 2017, págs. 74-75
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • For Emma, this time of the year has special significance, and not just because of all the gifts and food. It's also the only time of year when the date in her mental calendar lines up perfectly with her body. Emma is a calendar synaesthete, one of a handful of people who see time: not as a vague conceptual timeline, but as a vivid calendar that feels so real they could almost touch it. This is a little-known variation of synaesthesia, in which the brain links one kind of sensation to another. The fact that certain people can vividly conjure number lines and calendars was first noted by Victorian polymath Francis Galton in 1880, but we have only recently begun to figure out how--and why. It's not just a matter of idle curiosity. Understanding how calendar synaesthesia works may help unravel the way we all keep track of our memories as we move through space and time.