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I have music to shape and color synesthesia. From Wikipedia, I gather that from about 1900 to 2000 psychology research did not see synesthesia as worth studying:

Due to the difficulties in assessing and measuring subjective internal experiences, and the rise of behaviorism in psychology, which banished any mention of internal experiences, the study of synesthesia gradually waned during the 1930s. Marks[7] lists 44 papers discussing colored hearing from 1900 to 1940, while in the following 35 years from 1940 to 1975, only 12 papers were published on this topic. Cretien van Campen graphed the number of publications in the period 1780 - 2000 and noticed a revival of synesthesia studies from the 1980s.

Why was that the case?

Steven Jeuris
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Snack_Food_Termite
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  • In my OP quote from Wikipedia I think that 1780 should be 1980. But I have left it as it is in the wiki. – Snack_Food_Termite Oct 24 '19 at 13:25
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    It is unclear to me how you gather from that quote "that from about 1900 to 2000 psychology research did not see synesthesia as worth studying". :/ In fact, the quote indicates it was not 'ignored' during that period. How many studies would you expect? – Steven Jeuris Oct 24 '19 at 16:14
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    Are you just looking for some more concrete evidence to support "Due to the difficulties in assessing and measuring subjective internal experiences, and the rise of behaviorism in psychology, which banished any mention of internal experiences" - because otherwise, it seems like that statement already provides the explanation: behaviorism became a popular approach and was focused on objectively observable behavior rather than subjective report. – Bryan Krause Oct 24 '19 at 16:20
  • I agree with @StevenJeuris. 44 papers between 1900 and 1940 plus 12 papers between 1940 and 1975 is 56 papers in the first 3/4 of the century. – Chris Rogers Oct 24 '19 at 18:03

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