A new study has shed new light on synesthesia -- the effect of hearing colors, seeing sounds and other cross-sensory phenomena.

Researchers at Australian National University found synesthetes had much stronger mental associations between related concepts.

"For them words like 'doctor' and 'nurse' are very closely associated, where 'doctor' and 'table' are very unrelated. Much more so than for people without the condition," Stephanie Goodhew, lead research of the study, said in a statement,

The findings could help researchers better understand the mysteries of synesthesia, which Dr Goodhew said affects an estimated one in every 100 people.

According to Goodhew , synesthetes have stronger connections between different brain areas, particularly between what we think of as the language part of the brain and the color part of the brain. Those connections lead to a triggering effect, where a stimulus in one part of the brain would cause activity in another.

"Things like hearing shapes, so a triangle will trigger an experience of a sound or a color, or they might have a specific taste sensation when they hear a particular sound," she said. "One person reported that smells have certain shapes. For example the smell of fresh air is rectangular, coffee is a bubbly cloud shape and people could smell round or square."

The research centered on measuring the extent that people with Synesthesia draw meaning between words.