Do You Have Synesthesia?

A few weeks back, I was listening to The Skirted Roundtable and the topic of synesthesia came up. Even as a Psych major, I don't ever remember having ever heard of it. Have you? I'm fascinated with almost any discussion about how our brains work...how we perceive our environment and how we think.

Synethesia, from the Greek words, "syn" (together) and "aesthesis" (perception) is a condition, for lack of a better word, where a person's senses sort of overlap...one sense triggering another sense. Imagine if every single time you looked at a particular color, you sensed a particular taste or flavor. Or, what if letters or numbers always appeared to you in color. A person with synethesia might see the alphabet like this...although the colors would not all appear the same way to every person with this condition.


The most common form of synesthesia is associating letters and/or numbers with colors like you saw in the picture above. If you do not have synesthesia, letters/numbers that are written in black ink are just seen as black. But for people with synesthesia, black letters and numbers are often colorful. Not all persons with synesthesia have the same sensations or experiences. One individual might look at the number 5 and have it appear as red while another person with synesthesia might see the number 5 as being purple.

Imagine seeing or associating the months of the year in color...pretty wild, huh?


In case you are wondering, I did read that certain drugs can trigger an experience like synesthesia. But for a person who has real synesthesia, the condition is completely involuntary. Some folks with synesthesia do not realize in their younger years that not everyone is seeing the world as they do. When a person with synesthesia figures this out, they often keep quiet about what they experience for fear of ridicule or being thought weird.

Synesthesia can take several forms...for instance some folks connect color and music...seeing a certain color when a particular musical note or instrument is played. Synesthesia can also involve taste, where a person tastes a particular flavor when they hear different words or names. It can even involve touch...with a person feeling shapes when they hear certain musical instruments.

Scientists do not know what causes synesthesia but they think it could be caused by "cross talk...a genetic neural connection over-abundance" or "a reduced amount of inhibition along feedback pathways.”



This video below explains it much better. After you watch it, I would love it if you would leave a comment telling me what you think about this. Do you know someone who experiences synesthesia?

I wondered if I might have a touch of it just because there are certain numbers I really don't like...usually odd numbers. I really don't like it when the year changes and it's an odd year like 2009 or 2011. I like 2010 and I will like writing 2012. I find myself having strong "feelings" about certain words, as well. Some words have a rhythm that I find comforting or pleasant, while others do not. That's probably not a form of synesthesia but just me being strange. LOL

Here's the video...tell me what cha think. Wonder if decorating would be more of a challenge for the person with synesthesia? Or perhaps it's easier. :)



For more information on synesthesia, visit Wikipedia.