Do you have Synaesthesia? (take the test)

[Kazimiera]

TAKE THE TEST: ARE YOU A SYNAESTHETE?
http://synesthete.org/

Synaesthesia is a condition where two or more unrelated senses merge. The reason why this happens is yet to be discovered although it has been determined that is runs in families and is an autosomal dominant trait.

Some scientists have described it as being a "disorder", but most people with it view it as a gift.

Non-synaesthetes often think that synaesthetes are crazy and abnormal because it sounds like such an absurd experience. If you don't have it, you cannot imagine having it.

Synaesthesia cannot be learnt or acquired. You either have it or you don't. As it is a neurological phenomenon, the brains of synesthetes (people who experience synaesthesia) are wired slightly differently to those who don't experience it.

The estimated numbers vary greatly from 1 in 20, to 1 in 200 or even one in a million.

Synaesthesia comes in a number of forms:

Graepheme - Colour: the person experiences letters and words as having different colours. Different people have different colours. "A" is often red, although not everyone experiences it like that.

Sound - Colour: the person experiences notes as having different colours. They can literally see music.

Number - Colour: the person experiences numbers as having colours. Sometimes the individual numbers (0-9) have colours, whereas some people see entire numbers as being a certain colour (like 87 is a shade of green). The colours are also very specific. The person knows the exact shades.

Personification: this is where numbers of letters of the alphabet have different personalities. eg: 3 is fitness freak and athlete in a yellow shirt.

Gustatory: the person experiences words, sounds or letters as "tasting" a certain way. Eg: 9 tastes like purple chocolate or "q" tastes like candle wax.

There are also two way of synaesthetic experiences, related specifically to the graepheme-colour and sound-colour varieties. The person may "see" the colour in their head, whereas some can literally see the colour in front of them. As if the words had different colours themselves.

As the person is born this way, they often think that other people experience this too and are quite surprised when they learn that others don't.

An example: Someone with grapheme-colour synaesthesia will recognise almost immediately that there is a triangle of 2's in this diagram because they can see the colours, whereas the 'normal' person will have to look longer and harder.



The diagnostic criteria are as follows:

• Synesthesia is involuntary and automatic. (It happens whether you want it or not. It cannot be willed or created, it comes on its own)

• Synesthetic perceptions are spatially extended, meaning they often have a sense of "location." For example, synesthetes speak of "looking at" or "going to" a particular place to attend to the experience.

• Synesthetic percepts are consistent and generic (i.e., simple rather than pictorial). (Colours or tastes always remain the same)

• Synesthesia is highly memorable.

• Synesthesia is laden with affect. (There is emotion involved, if someone says that 5 is red and the person experiences it as being blue it evokes an uncomfortable response inside)

These perceptions occur in a normal state. Being on drugs can invoke similar experiences but disappear once the drugs wear off.

There was a book written by a man with synaesthesia. I cannot remember what his name was but the book is called "The man who tasted shapes".

MY OWN EXPERIENCES

I have graepheme-colour, number-colour synaesthesia, personification and also shapes.

I found out I was a synaesthete when I was 28. I tried to describe it to a number of people once and they all looked at me like I was nuts. On the
internet one night I typed "numbers have colours" and came up with a wealth of information. I never imagined that other people had it too.

I also struggled terribly at school with maths. I always thought I was stupid until I realised that the colours were confusing me. The more numbers, the more colours. An algebraic equation is like a kaleidoscope to me.

Certain people have shapes too. This is really hard to describe. My mom, for instance, is a three -dimensional maroon coloured square with black triangular spikes. My grandmother was rectangular and yellowish. I have an aversion to people who are orange diamond-shaped and avoid them like the plague. I know only two and that's enough. The name "Tobias" also has a orange rectangle shape.

My numbers are coloured as follows:

1 - white
2 - orange
3 - yellow
4 - green (Friday and April are the same shade, therefore Friday the 4th of April is a really good day)
5 - blue
6 - red
7 - turquoise
8 - a funny mustard colour
9- brown
0 - black

3624 = 3624


Some links to websites which discuss synaesthesia:
http://www.youramazingbrain.org/brai...ynesthesia.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
http://synaesthesia.fws1.com/main.html
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/2/21/144256/437

[Kazimiera]

I have discussed this topic with a number of people in the medical, especially psychiatric and neurological, fraternity from specialist doctors to neuropsychologists and occupational therapists. None of them had heard of this before.

This leads me to wonder how many synaesthetes are really out there who have been misdiagnosed as having some or other disorder when in fact there is nothing wrong with them.

[Comte Arnau]

I'm a synaesthete and I'm aware of it since I was like 18, but I didn't know it had a name until a few years ago.


I'm only a grapheme-colour type. What's more, only a consonant-colour one. Numbers and vowels are colourless to me.

This is more or less how I've seen them since childhood (the colours are approximate, from the possible ones in the palette):

B - C - D - F - G - H - J - K - L - M - N - P - Q - R - S - T - V - W - X - Y - Z

[Stefan]

This is very interesting. I think most people can taste things they smell, so I won't mention that.

I have a problem with tasting the texture of some things. This is even worse when I eat stuff with a texture I can taste before eating it specifically, because it confuses me I'd say. I can't eat ground meat, flat noodles, etc or I'll throw up, unless it's cooked a certain way - which I can't really describe too well. I visualize sounds as well, although it is something more vague, like an alternating line or wave. Certain sounds also have colors too. I don't physically see them though, so I suppose that doesn't really count. It is more like a day-dream, or model in my mind type of thing.

Numbers have personalities to me, but this is more associated with the shape of the letter and imaginative stories I made up when I was little.

[member]

Amazing! But I don't think that I have Synaesthesia...

[Kazimiera]

I'm a synaesthete and I'm aware of it since I was like 18, but I didn't know it had a name until a few years ago.


I'm only a grapheme-colour type. What's more, only a consonant-colour one. Numbers and vowels are colourless to me.

This is more or less how I've seen them since childhood (the colours are approximate, from the possible ones in the palette):

B - C - D - F - G - H - J - K - L - M - N - P - Q - R - S - T - V - W - X - Y - Z

It's strange that you don't have vowels. Some people have only vowels coloured.

This is very interesting. I think most people can taste things they smell, so I won't mention that.

I have a problem with tasting the texture of some things. This is even worse when I eat stuff with a texture I can taste before eating it specifically, because it confuses me I'd say. I can't eat ground meat, flat noodles, etc or I'll throw up, unless it's cooked a certain way - which I can't really describe too well. I visualize sounds as well, although it is something more vague, like an alternating line or wave. Certain sounds also have colors too. I don't physically see them though, so I suppose that doesn't really count. It is more like a day-dream, or model in my mind type of thing.

Numbers have personalities to me, but this is more associated with the shape of the letter and imaginative stories I made up when I was little.

Smell and taste are connected so they don't count.

The food textures is autistic-specific.

You don't need to see the colours in front of you. Some people see them physically whereas others "see" them in the mind's eye. I see mine in the mind's eye.

If certain sounds have colours then it is DEFINITELY a synaesthetic experience.

[Comte Arnau]

I don't see any real use for it, other than remembering names of people in a vague way, thanks to these colours. For instance, I remember being introduced to someone called Susan only once, and seeing her again many years later, I could remember what her name was because I pictured in my mind a big red stain, so I figured out the name to have two s's. Other than for this type of things, it's pretty useless, so I don't know why it actually exists.

[Kazimiera]

I don't see any real use for it, other than remembering names of people in a vague way, thanks to these colours. For instance, I remember being introduced to someone called Susan only once, and seeing her again many years later, I could remember what her name was because I pictured in my mind a big red stain, so I figured out the name to have two s's. Other than for this type of things, it's pretty useless, so I don't know why it actually exists.

I remember telephone numbers that way and also names. It's just that some people's brains are wired differently than others. It isn't there for a specific reason or use.

Some theorists speculate that at birth all babies are synaesthetic, and that they experience the world though "one large sense". As they get older, the senses split from each other and become separate. The theory is that in synaesthetes they did not separate completely, which is why we still have some of these connections that other people don't.

[Stefan]

Why exactly would only vowels or consonants be colored? Is there a neurological difference in how we process the two different groups, linguistically? That is quite amazing. How does one see Semivowels?

Smell and taste are connected so they don't count.

The food textures is autistic-specific.

I figured. A lot of autistics and aspies have problems with textures far greater than mine. Certain materials hurt them for example. I only have that touch/taste issue, and now that I think about it, I connect sound and texture together as well, but that is fundamental with how vibrations work. Often I feel a sound more than I hear it though.

If certain sounds have colours then it is DEFINITELY a synaesthetic experience.

Yeah it's based on pitch mostly. Higher sounds have lighter colors, and lower sounds have darker colors. Multiple sounds that harmonize with each-other can add together, while those that contradict and compete with each-other subtract or overshadow. Never do they blend though, as one would think.



I wonder if there are any animals that utilize these skills though. It could be very useful in certain survival situations.

[Comte Arnau]

It's strange that you don't have vowels. Some people have only vowels coloured.

I know. The only person I know IRL who's also got it only sees coloured vowels.

I don't know why I rule vowels out. I never bothered to think about why, but it's just this way. I see them all black.

You don't need to see the colours in front of you. Some people see them physically whereas others "see" them in the mind's eye. I see mine in the mind's eye.

Yep. To me it's like a vague stain in my mind. I don't see them while reading, only when words are singled out for some reason.

I remember telephone numbers that way and also names. It's just that some people's brains are wired differently than others. It isn't there for a specific reason or use.

I wish it was numbers with me too. At least there'd be a practical use for it.

I read some famous musicians had it and associated notes with colours.

Some theorists speculate that at birth all babies are synaesthetic, and that they experience the world though "one large sense". As they get older, the senses split from each other and become separate. The theory is that in synaesthetes they did not separate completely, which is why we still have some of these connections that other people don't.

Very interesting theory, because I've always thought it was like some sort of child trauma. People say I taught myself to read, and I had always wondered if the cause was in one of those children books with coloured initial letters.