Synaesthesia

[Synaesthete]

Anyone have it?

Anyone even heard of it?

Neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

Basically meaning, any 2 of the 5 senses overlap.

I have Colour>Sound Synaesthesia, meaning that hearing sounds or music produces the experience of seeing colours and shapes, in my "third eye" (in my head).

I love it.

Synaesthesia can manifest in many forms...

Letters and numbers might be coloured. 1 2 3 A B C

The names of ordered sequences (numbers, letters, days of the week, or months) may have personalities. Monday may be mean, 2 is passive, and J is fun and quirky.

You may visualise numbers in shapes, as if they are "mapped out" in your head, the moment you start to think about them.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 may spiral upwards, 11-20 may be linear.

Certain words may invoke a particular taste in your mouth. This whole post could be littered with different flavours in your mouth.

:biggrin:

[marshlander]

An inherited acid trip. No I don't have it, but I have a friend who does ... and didn't the composer, Messiaen, experience sounds as colours?

[Synaesthete]

I don't know, a few musicians (probably loads) have Synaesthesia.

Many have it without realising it because you grow up with it and get used to it, so kind of subconsciously assume it is something everything has.

[princealbertofb]

I don't know if this counts as synaesthesia but I often picture movements (dancing) when I listen to / hear music. Does choreography come as a manifestation of synaesthesia?

[72jay]

I don't have it, but have heard of it
In a way the 'hearing' (seeing) colors sounds kinda cool LOL

[peterinmalaga]

I have heard of it in art and literature but didn't know it was a medical condition (don't want to pathologise it but how do you categorize it?).

[Synaesthete]

It is not medically recognised as a disability or condition, so it is referred to as a neurologically based phenomenon. I certainly do not experience it as a disability and many Synaesthetes regard it as a gift.

[princealbertofb]

I believe it's more something to do with what connections go on in the brain and what happens to some brains. I've heard that learning music at an early age can help to provide some connections that other brains will not develop, and these connections help to learn certain things more easily. Therefore, children ought to be exposed to music much earlier and in a way to develop those connections sooner rather than later. I've also read that a child's brain isn't totally developed till he's well into his twenties, so there's time to learn and create those connections during all those school and student years.

[Lilmy87]

This topic caught my eye because I have just recently read a book, 'Born on a Blue Day' by Daniel Tammet, a memoir of the authors experiences of synaethesia, Aspergers syndrome, savant syndrome and epilepsy. It's a really a interesting and inspiring read, one I would highly recommend! Tammet describes his exceptional and intuitative ability in maths and language. He owes this partially to his synaethesia, which enables him to 'see' numbers and words; through this, he holds the world record for recalling pi to 22,514 decimal places and learnt over ten languages. I certain would not, therefore, doubt your claim that synaethesia can be a gift!

[Wintereis]

Yes, I have heard of it, and I have it. Like you, when listening to music my mind correlates that music with ribbons of color and lights, which I see in my mind. A couple of years ago I participated in a sociological study of "gifted" young gay men. Several of the questions involved in the study focused on the experience of synesthetic phenomena. I'm not sure what the results of the study were. If they found anything, they have yet to publish their findings. Also, for those of you without synesthesia, a recent film illustrated the effect very well. "The Soloist", a true story about a schizophrenic musician living in L.A. (again, there is no connection between synesthesia and mental illness), has a section where the main character has a synesthetic experience while listening to Beethoven's "Eroica Symphony".