I have a question about human perception. After reading Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome and knowing about synesthesia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) something occurred to me.

If all our senses are unique circuits of neurons, and the circuits can cross with each other (synesthesia), and given that autistic people can switch off a sense or may have problems filtering inputs, and all impulses are of one kind, how can the brain know where these inputs are coming from? For example if input is coming only from the eye, can a person think that it is coming from the ear? Can we see with our ears, or hear with our eyes, through some sort of circuit-crossing?

I have a question about human perception. After reading the book "Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome" and knowing about synesthesia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) something occurred to me.

If unique circuits of neurons are responsible for each of our senses, and the circuits can cross with each other (synesthesia), and given that autistic people can switch off a sense or may have problems filtering inputs, and all impulses are of one kind, how can the brain know where these inputs are coming from? For example if input is coming only from the eye, can a person think that it is coming from the ear? Can we see with our ears, or hear with our eyes, through some sort of circuit-crossing?