My First Bit of Research
This morning I went in for my fMRI at Baylor. I met with my researcher and we talked about our synesthesia experiences (she’s a synesthete, too!). Then I went into the MRI lab. They made me put on these makeshift glasses since I can’t wear mine in there. 
They were big, pink, and plastic, with an elastic band that went around my head to hold them on. I felt so silly wearing them. I put on these huge earphones and laid down on the table thing and they slid me into the tube. There was a mirror above my face that pointed out behind the back end of the tube so I could see a screen where they were projecting different images.
First the screen was colored in boxes of different colors. Then it would be blank, then it was covered in boxes of varying shades of grey/black/white. It did this about five time, so they could see how my brain works when viewing colors vs. no colors. Then they showed three different series of graphemes.
Some that I view in “colors”, some that I view in black or white (which I still consider “colors”), and some characters in another language (I’m not sure which, didn’t look like anything I’ve seen before). It did these all several times. Then the last 15 minutes I was supposed to be viewing a video of Sesame Street, but it wasn’t working for some reason so I just saw a black screen and was having to try very hard not to fall asleep, haha.
After the fMRI, we went back to their research lab/office and I got to speak with Dr. Eagleman who is heading up the research. We talked about their research on grapheme->color synesthesia, as well as their research on tracking synesthesia genetically. We laid out my family tree and they asked me to contact as many family members as I can, to see if they want to participate in the genetic study (all they have to do is donate a sample of DNA – some saliva). They also told me that they’re creating some more research studies for synesthetes. They couldn’t tell me everything but they told me it will be a series of computer games — and they want me to pilot the research! Woohoo! I’m so excited to be a part of something like this. In addition, Dr. Eagleman has a book coming out in March and he said he would give me a copy. High five!
P.S. Yes, those are images of my brain. They gave me a whole disc of images from the MRI!