Page 32 - Revista FRONTAL Edição Especial iMed 12.0

SCIENTIFIC LECTURES

JAMIE WARD PHD

DIFFERENT WAYS TO EXPERIENCE THE WORLD

AUTHOR
JOANA FARRICA

Regarding ‘sensory loss, sensory sub-
stitution and cross-modal plasticity’, he is
investigating the mechanisms behind the
amplification or distortion of a particular
sense due to sensory loss. One practical ex-
ample of this is when the visual cortex of a
blind person responds to sound and touch
(also known as neuroplasticity) and how it
reverses after the restoration of sight.
As far as ‘synaesthesia and the multi-
sensory brain research’ is concerned, his
research group is one of the most repu-
table centres in the world. Synaesthesia
consists of a mechanism in which stimu-
lation of one sensory or cognitive pathway
induces experiences in a second sensory
or cognitive pathway, joining together sen-
sations that are usually experienced sepa-
rately. In other words, a synesthete is some-
one who experiences a colour when hears
a sound, or when a word tastes like food.
His research is focused on the connection
between differences in conscious percep-
tual experiences and neurobiological dif-
ferences, and how they relate to cognition
(including social cognition and memory).
Professor Jamie Ward, an international
reference in the field of synaesthesia, con-
siders that there is a sort of different ways
to experience the world, of which synaes-
Jamie Ward, PhD, is the Director of the University of Sussex (2008) and then,
thesia is but one. He believes that 3 char-
Sussex Neuroscience and the Co- Director at the same college, Professor of Cognitive
acteristics must be present: the existence
of Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Pro- Neuroscience (2012).
of an inducer (the triggering stimulus) and
gramme 'From Sensation and Perception He is currently leading a research group
a concurrent (the synaesthetic experience);
to Awareness'. He is also the President of which examines human cognitive neuro-
synaesthesia is involuntary; and concurrent
the British Association of Cognitive Neuro- science using methods, such as neuropsy-
is percept-like. Moreover, synaesthesia may
science, as well as the Founding Editor of chology, functional Magnetic Resonance
be caused by developmental or acquired
'Cognitive Neuroscience'. Imaging (fMRI), Transcranial Magnetic
reasons, and it differs in phenomenology
From 1991 to 1997, Jamie Ward studied Stimulation (TMS) and Electroencephalog-
(vividness, automaticity) and extensive-
Natural Sciences at the University of Cam- raphy (EEG). With more than 200 scientific
ness (the number of types of synaesthesia)
bridge and got his PhD in Psychology at articles published so far, his present tripar-
between the synesthetes. In terms of evo-
the University of Birmingham. After that, tite inter-related research is about ‘social
lutionary advantages, nowadays the pres-
he was a Research Fellow at the University neuroscience of vicarious perception’, ‘sen-
ence of adaptative benefits from this phe-
of Sussex (1997-1999), a Lecturer in Psychol- sory loss, sensory substitution and cross
nomenon remains a topic of discussion.
ogy at the University College London (1999- modal’, and ‘synaesthesia and the multi-
2007), a Principal Lecturer in Psychology at sensory brain’.