Woman, 22, suffers with condition that makes her emotional after touching certain textures

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A young woman suffers with a condition that causes her to experience extreme emotional reactions to certain textures.
The unnamed 22-year-old, known only as 'AW', was a patient of Dr Vilayanur Ramachandran, a leading neuroscientist based at the the University of California in San Diego.
In a recent article, he and his colleagues have revealed details of the patient who found that touching denim left her depressed and disgusted while contact with silk made her happy and contented.

Disgusting: The woman referred to only as AW feels depressed if she comes into contact with denim fabric

Touching corduroy left her confused, leather aroused feelings of receiving criticism, multi-coloured toothpaste made her feel anxious, wax made her feel embarrassed, paracetomol tablets left her feeling jealous and different grades of sandpaper made her feel either guilt, relief, or as if she was telling a white lie.

THE CONFUSED WORLD OF A SYNESTHESIA SUFFERER

Synesthesia is a condition in which one sense is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight.
Another form of synesthesia joins objects such as letters, shapes, numbers or people's names with a sensory perception such as smell, colour or flavour.
Around four per cent of people are thought to have the condition which is eight times more common in women.
Most synesthesists tend to be left-handed.
There are no dangerous side-effects to the having the condition
Famous synesthesists include Marilyn Monroe, Mary J Blige as well as the artists Kandinsky and Hockney.

After numerous tests, doctors concluded that AW suffered from a brain condition known as synaesthesia in which one sense produces a reaction from another sense because pathways in the brain are muddled. 
To compare reactions, Dr Vilayanur Ramachandran and his colleague Dr David Brang then tested another 20-year-old synesthesia suffer referred to as HS.

HS felt no real emotion when touching denim but was disgusted instead by the texture of fleece and wax.
Corduroy made her feel disappointed; bok choy made her feel irritated, but smooth metal made her feel sedated and calm.

He reported: 'In this subject, the strongest emotion was evoked when she touched soft leather, which made her feel extremely scared – she described the sensation as “making my spine crawl.”'

Sandpaper makes the anonymous synesthesia patient feel either guilt, relief, or as if she was telling a white lie

The scientists have reported in the journal Neurocase that the condition might have its roots in man's evolution.
They wrote: 'Our primate ancestors may have evolved unconscious mechanisms for predicting the potential of an object to cause harm.
'Thus, tactile sensations which may be beneficial to survival (such as soft furs, for example, which provide warmth) may activate the parts of the limbic system mediating pleasure, whereas others which may be harmful (such as jagged stones) may be connected to those areas mediating aversion.'

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