Activation of striate cortex in the absence of visual stimulation: an fMRI study of synesthesia

It has been suggested that internally generated visual perception involves the primary visual cortex V1. To test this hypothesis, a functional MRI study was conducted with a female subject with orthographic color–word synesthesia. This subject was selected as she reported clear involuntary visualization of auditorily presented verbal material. Hearing a word resulted in seeing the word in a particular color. fMRI scans were acquired while the subject performed two verbal tasks (passive listening to words and verbal fluency). Significant activity was detected in primary visual cortex, in the absence of external visual stimulation. This finding provides evidence for a role of modulatory feedback connections between associative and primary visual areas in visual experience without direct visual stimulation.