Aspies & Synesthesia ?

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Hell-o. :>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

Do Aspies have more chances to be synesthetes ? Do you have, personnally, any "symptoms" of synesthesia ?

Personnally, I associate each day to a color (when I think "monday", I immediately think "blue", for the exemple). I also see letters as if they were highlighted in yellow or green when they're written or printed on paper. It's kinda funny - but a bit annoying when I'm reading. :>

When I think certain words, I immediately "smell" something, and then I taste in the mouth - which is funny, because I don't eat these food since about 10-12 years, but I know that's how we feel when we eat those food.

And you, do you have, or do you suspect a Synesthesia ?

LOL I was only discussing this with a fellow aspie the other day. I seem to have a mild form of synesthesia as it applies to numbers only. I assign colours to numbers as well as other characteristics which I can't describe, but the closest description would be a personification of the numbers - I almost assign them human characteristics! I also see the numbers 0-9 as falling into two categories, round ones and pointy ones

"but the closest description would be a personification of the numbers - I almost assign them human characteristics!"

It's very interesting, I never heard about this kind of Synesthesia. :>

Do you think it's more difficult for you to read numbers, for the exemple, than a "normal" human ?

Oh no, I love numbers! (I have a maths degree ) I find it easy to remember sequences of numbers such as telephone numbers, bank account numbers etc, which I think is helped by the fact that I don't just see bland meaningless numbers. Rather I see the numbers gelling together, almost communicating with each other (although that may be more a pattern thing), so that once the sequence is remembered it feels right.

I really don't know much about synesthesia though, I only came across the subject the other day after something I read by Temple Grandin prompted me to google "do numbers have colours" and synesthesia came up

Thanks for posting your experience. :>

Personally, it's really not easy to remember numbers when I hear them. If I read a number, I can easily remember what number it was, usually.
But for me, it's really easy to remember of tastes & smells. I remember how my room were smelling when I was 4. :> An other exemple ; when I was 4 or 5, I was forced to eat "normal" food. I'm 14, and I remember of the taste perfectly. It's useful...

Last edited by sMeow on 27 Oct 2011, 5:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

I was told by one that my voice was a similar colour to George Michael's.

She used to like the patterns and colours she saw when a tape was in reverse-play.

I recommend a book called "Born on a Blue Day" by a guy called Daniel Tammett (sp?) who has both Asperger's and synesthesia. It is facinating to read.

Thanks. I'll look for an overview. :>

http://books.google.com/books?id=gGrBCQ ... &q&f=false

Last edited by sMeow on 25 Oct 2011, 4:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

The Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, England did some research on this so you might want to look at their web site to see if they have published yet.

@Dreamsofa : Thanks. I've looked up on Interet, but apparently they don't have published their research about that yet.

I think used to have it but not sure if it's necessarily an Aspie thing.

When I looked at the letters on the keyboard, some look grumpy and others look happy and sociable. The grumpy ones are B, C, O, P, Q, R, T, and U, and the happy sociable ones are, A, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, S, V, W, X, Y and Z.
And the days of the week were in colours too. Monday was green, Tuesday was bronze, Wednesday was red, Thursday was gold, Friday was white, Saturday was baige, and Sunday was black.

But for the past few years I don't see colours or moods with words or letters any more. Must have grown out of it or something.

But once when I was with my cousin (who is NT), we were looking at some fish in a fish tank and my cousin said, ''that silver fish over there reminds me of the word 'listen'. Don't ask why!'' and she laughed, but I actually thought that too.

When somebody mentions period pains, I actually get them in my stomach. Is that....whatever that word is, or is it just strong sympathy?

I wonder if this really synesthesia, I like to associate colors with ways how certain audio reproduction equipments sound, like the "building blocks" of a decent stereo system. I'm not using only colors for describing the sound, though. E.g. those loudspeakers have a darkish-grey, somewhat rubbery sound, that cd-player has golden-brownish middle and a bit bluish highs, even electronic parts have their sound...

"I think used to have it but not sure if it's necessarily an Aspie thing. "

I don't think it's necessarily an Aspie thing - otherwise, it would be known - but I think Aspie can be more easily synesthetes.

"But once when I was with my cousin (who is NT), we were looking at some fish in a fish tank and my cousin said, ''that silver fish over there reminds me of the word 'listen'. Don't ask why!'' and she laughed, but I actually thought that too. "

I've read about some synesthetes who think exactly the same color/word... for a lot of things.

"When somebody mentions period pains, I actually get them in my stomach. Is that....whatever that word is, or is it just strong sympathy?"

I think it's just very strong empathy. I feel this kind of things sometimes too, but I don't think synesthesia acts on it.

I feel numbers. It is really difficult to explain exactly. 2642 feels speedy and tall. 7843 feels jumbled and staggered. All numbers, no matter their length, feel like something. I'm not sure if it is synesthesia, but when I have discussed it with others it does appear to be a unique skill.

I used to do something like that when I was a child learning arithmetic: every digit had a personality, and operators like multiplication, addition, subtraction, division, were a sort of relationships or actions and the whole made a story.

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Asperges me, Domine!

I have Asperger's and Synesthesia. In addition to the number/days of the week having colors as mentioned above I also Sound to Visual Synesthesia; Music has colors and abstract shapes for me. In fact, when someone tells me to think of a song I generally think about what the song looks like before I hear it in my head.