Synesthesia

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Now that would seriously screw up my ability to compose and mix music. I can't even comprehend having to try to compensate by panning everything to the left if I want it on the right... Uggggg!

O

M

Goodness!

Thank you all for this thread. My son has tried to explain that he feels words and tastes colors but since it is so outside my experience, I never quite "got it." This thread, and the links, have been very, VERY helpful.

I'll need to spend more time learning about this!

BeeBee

That rather surprises me, too, despite the to-be-expected higher occurance rate of synesthesia in ASDs than in the general population. It still seems more than one would expect.

I began thinking about this awhile ago and considering whether or not I experience anything of the sort (that should be a clue that I had to actually think hard about it) and could recall instances where various sensory memories have been associated with one another. Example: certain familiar perfumes immediately conjur a visual image of the person I knew who wore the same perfume. But this is not synesthesia as I understand it because everyone experiences this.

It may be that this memory association can be easily confused with a broad impression of synesthesia by the nonsynesthete because it can be a disorder very difficult to imagine for those without.

But I truly think everyone has sensory associations.

Last edited by Sophist on 28 Jul 2005, 10:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My name's pink, white and green and Saturdays yellow.

Huh?

I would not say that I have it. I used to wonder when I was younger because there were certain associations between smells and colors, or colors and numbers or days of the week; some numbers "felt" like they were yellow or green or some such, but there was no actual perception of one sense as another, only associations in my mind, such as social studies and history seeming like blue because I used a blue bookcover for social studies in fourth grade.

So no, but my tendency to naturally create associations between various things makes perceiving one make me think of another.

If that makes any sense.

earthmonkey, I did the same. All of my Primary (kindergarten) teachers were strongly associated with a color because their rooms were predominantly that color.

Mrs. Baker (my homeroom): yellow

Mrs. Pool: blue

Mrs. Ramisch: red

Mrs. Renken: brown

In no other grade did I find such associations, but obviously I still remember these to this day.

That actually makes sense to me.

Me too - my name's orange, green and red.

If you see the colors in your "mind's eye," what does that mean? I am still not clear on all of this.

I have seen that site you posted before, but found it to be a bit disorganized and hard to understand.

If the other factors match up (like it staying consistent over time) then it means mild synesthesia. The next level up is sensing it in reality (like looking at letters and seeing colors overlaid over top of them like a sheet of translucent colored glass). The strongest form is when the colors/whatever are vivid enough to interfere with the regular senses (like I read about a woman once who couldn't listen to music while driving because the colors of the sounds distracted her from the road signs).

One of the few scientific experiments that has been done on synesthetes involves showing color-letter synesthetes a field of characters, with a few different ones scattered among them - like this, but larger:

F F F F F F F F F P F F F
F F F F P F F F F F F F F
F F F F F F F F F P F F F
F F F F F F P F F F F F F

The synesthetes are significantly faster than normal people at picking out the odd characters, because they are seeing something like this:

F F F F F F F F F P F F F
F F F F P F F F F F F F F
F F F F F F F F F P F F F
F F F F F F P F F F F F F

I've often wondered if another thing that distinguishes synesthesia from normal metaphorical associations is arbitrariness. Most people associate mint with cold colors, and heat with red/orange, due to cultural conditioning and the like. Most synesthesia perceptions seem to make no sense at all (Middle C has nothing to do with red...)

Of course, it could be that the associations were made so long ago that the synesthete has no memory of the source (what colors were the letters in your first alphabet book printed in?)

I find the whole thing fascinating because there is so little formal research as of yet. It's still at the stage of people tossing around random theories and personal anecdotes and calling it a science. Which, as a side note, includes everything I've said so far in this thread - I'm no neuroscientist.

As far as consistency, I cannot say for sure because as I mentioned, I just haven't given it much attention unless it has been an extreme experience with music, but experiences go back a very long time. My experiences seem to be limited to my mind's eye, except for certain smell sensations and physical sensations. I can recall times when I have associated smells and colors (I know what a color smells like, but don't actually smell it and I see in my mind what color a smell is), but I am not sure if that is more of a sensory imprint issue and it warrants more observation on my part.

When I looked at your example I immediately picked out the P's from the F's as though it was extremely obvious, although I did not perceive an awareness of any specific colors, even after glancing at the colored example.

I think that I experience it to a degree, but my extreme visual thinking and some of my other thought processes may be making it difficult to pinpoint. My experiences are definitely more noticable and intense with music. In a reply on another thread, after I posted it I realized I had said something odd. I always see 3 when someone says few. If someone one says I have a few of this, or that, I automatically, as soon as the word "few" has been said, have an image of the number 3 in my mind. I notice this because it happens ALL THE TIME.

When I see colors with music it doesn't seem to be like middle C = red, or something. In a way I associate certain emotions with colors, but again that may be some sort of sensory imprint. I know Jimi Hendrix used to communicate to other musicians and such about music by referencing colors, like "let's make this part sound yellow." I don't see it quite like that, my way is much more visual, like "I'm going to make a small child crying in the corner and then slowly morph him into some sort of mutant that starts kicking people in the teeth." That is the visualization of a certain transition between familiar emotions. But now, once that task has been accomplished, when listening back to it, I will see other visualizations in my mind, like swirling rainbows, or shadows of obscure things against flowing backdrops of color taht relate in no way to the visualization I was trying to impart.

Of course with the few=3 thing I can recall (I remember great details of many things from as far back as 35 years ago - 3 yrs. old) being told that few means three and couple means 2. When someone says "several" I see a 7 in my mind, but that could be because of the "sev" relationship.

I do think that it would be easier to test for it with a subject that is not a visual thinker with a prodigious memory.

Aha! Now there's a theory I will be mentally pursuing for the entire rest of the day......
hmmmmmmmmmm...............

I don't have this, or anything like it. I skipped most of the posts, but I've read enough to know for sure I don't have it. It still doesn't make much sense to me. Asoociating numbers (etc.) with colors???