Synaesthesia

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I'm glad I'm not alone.

I've talked to people who have heard of it, but no one else who's had it.

NO WAY!! ! We're visual twinsies!! ! Are there other people with this? Is it called something?

Seems like it might be caused by a very minor cataract. I actually have a very minor cataract.

The first time I found out about the condition last year, I thought it was very interesting and did some research on it, but even though I have interesting understandings of my perceptions I never thought I had it. Some of my experience did remind me of it, though, so I humorously designated myself a parasynesthesiac. Reading what people are saying here, though, I am beginning to think I might be mildly synesthesiac. (American spelling over here - we do not put up with those ae's!)

A lot of my parasynesthesiac experiences are visual and shape-related. I don't truly perceive any of these sensations like I would something real, but they always create a certain sense in my mind. For instance, drizzle or light rain makes the image/feeling appear in my head of tiny pinpoints of white light, like stars, bursting into being in a midnight-blue background each time a drop hits me and then fading. I dislike the numbers 4 and 7, which are very like each other, because they are too orange and sharp and narrow, whereas I find 2 calming and 1 like a single huge bright white light. One reason I like my favorite tea is because of the image its taste makes, which is an iridescent emerald with sparkling chips of gold and crimson. I find that crystal formations, mathematical matrices, and the music of Bach create very similar impressions in my mind, all of them regular intricate crystalline white-shining structures. I like certain words because of how they feel in my mouth and my mind; one of my favorites is "specious," which is smooth and petal-soft and looks like the center of a flower.

The thing is, all of these are "feelings" caused by the actual stimulus, rather than real-seeming sensations, and they don't occur for everything (although they do for most things). Can anyone who knows for sure that they have synesthesia give me any feedback on this? I don't know how it is for you; Wikipedia did not provide that information. But I do know that some NTs I know, like my mom, have occasional fainter versions of these feelings, or at least can understand my parasynesthesiac perceptions and almost always agree that they make sense.

No.

As in, "No, you are not synesthesiac"?

Hey, we're even the same age.

I'm guessing that it's just one of those random variants that just happens occasionally. I've always just called it a red/blue shift, because my left eye sees everything in a slightly warmer tone, while my right eye sees everything in a slightly cooler tone. I notice the "popping-out" and "sinking-in" most dramatically with red and blue.



That would make sense. I think it's caused by each eye interpreting the same wavelength of light as a slightly different color. A minor cataract seems like it could cause that slight difference.

As for my eyes, it might have something to do with the fact that my dad is red/green colorblind.

Rodent,
You are most definitely a synaesthete!

Dr. Richard E. Cytowic is one of the better known experts on synaesthesia:

http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v2/psych ... towic.html

Simon Baron-Cohen is another expert in this area, along with autism.

I couldn't find any good articles on the net about the relationship between autism and synaesthesia, just lots of minor mentions. While looking, I found articles that referred to synaesthesia as being a 'disease' and a 'disability' - obviously written by non-synaesthetes! I can't believe the arrogance of neurotypicals sometimes!

Also, it appears that we had a thread on this topic very recently - I found it on Google! I'll bump it up now.

Oh, wow. Thanks, Kelsi. I just thought it was because I think visually anyway, being on the autistic spectrum. Actually, I thought all of us got those perceptions. Thanks for letting me know - it makes things clearer. Not quite the revelation my AS diagnosis was, but very interesting...

I have sound > color synesthesia, narrow band. Music has color, and also other tonal sounds, like silverware clanking and some voices.
I also have grapheme color synesthesia, which is more common. I see letters, numbers and words as having color.

with my, it's not the ability to see with mine eyes a visual phenomenon that corresponds with a sound but I imagine the shape of the sound and what color it represents. Like, "that sounds blue" or "that engine made a long, bumpy sound like beads on a sting".

Letters and numbers have colors and personalities to me. A is male, yellow and about 15 years old. B is a boy. He is blue and he's 6 years old. C is red and he's also a boy about 5 years old.

5 is the younger, smarter brother of 6. 6 and 7 get along very well. 8 is a bully. 9 is a grown-up who keeps 8 in check.

Some of this happens to me too, but mostly in red/green instead of red/blue. And I will hear things that I feel and feel things that I hear- interchangeably. I have trouble making out white on a black surface and an easy time making out black on a whit surface as my eyes tend to shift toward darker objects.

I think that my being able to hear things that I feel might come from my hearing loss and my brain trying to make up for that lack of information. It's weird when I try to think about it because then I end up focusing on the sound as well as what I hear through touch (example: typing on the keyboard, and being in a vehicle)

If I have a choice to look at one of four colors: red, yellow, blue or green then I will focus on the blue/green area. since those colors are the most pleasing to my eye. Reds and yellows actually repel my eyes (like a magnet) I just can't focus on them for long.

Also, I find that my eyes sense color differently, with the most noticeable being that my left eye sees more blue and right eye sees more red.

Colors definitely have an emotional appeal to me.
Just to run through the rainbow to make it easier than to use random colors:
Red= hatred/violence
Orange= anger
Yellow= neutral/mix of both sides
Green= calm
Blue= peace
Purple= serenity/happiness

Also some shapes have an effect on me too;
Circles= happiness, love
Squares= neutral
Triangles= pain, sorrow

Numbers always have little effect on me but I do feel more drawn to even numbers versus odd numbers.

I have also found that I see things moving around when tired especially words and other small things.

I picture certain numbers, letters, and days of the week as having colors (example: Tuesday is blue, 8 is purple, etc.), but I don't have true synesthesia, because I only think these colors "feel right" as an association. I don't see the entities as having those colors. So, unlike true synesthetes, I don't see the letter "A" as always being a certain color. To me, "A" should be red, and if I were coloring the letter "A" in a coloring book, I'd make it red, but I see it as plain old black text in books and written material.
-OddDuckNash99-

I dont see certain numbers as having a color or anything like that, But I have sensory jumbling, where I hear and feel a sour taste or a loud noise.

Cherrililac,
Yep - that's synesthesia!

OddDuckNash99,
When you picture the letter "A" in your mind, if you ALWAYS see it as being red, then that is synesthesia.