Music-Colour Synaesthesia: A Sensorimotor Account

Abstract

This article presents a sensorimotor account of music-colour synaesthesia, proposing a radically different perspective than is commonly provided. Recent empirical and theoretical work in music cognition moves away from cognitivist accounts, rejects representationalism and embraces an embodied standpoint. It has been shown that some forms of synaesthesia may be elicited from a concept alone and are often accompanied by shapes and textures. It is from this perspective that a skilful engagement with the environment and relevant sensorimotor contingencies may be identified. Here the role of embodied and enactive perception in general music cognition is extended to music-colour synaesthesia, and an argument is made for how the attributes of bodiliness and grabbiness might be found in a sonic environment, and how music listening might be perceived as an act of doing.