Synaesthesia

Synaesthesia

I called myself synaesthesia because it is the name of a song i like. I was bored earlier so i looked up the meaning on the net. It is a medical condition where you see sounds or smell noises or where you mix up two or more other senses. I was wondering if anyone here has it and if they do what is it like?

It sounds cool doesnt it? I really want to experience it. I want to see what my favourite song sounds like and stuff like that. I seem to have loads of the symptoms of it but I dont actually have it itself. Oh well

Piste

I dont think I have Synaesthesia but All my Days of the week have colours, as do some of my numbers. It was stronger when I was younger

Sev

A friend of mine from college is like that, he associates numbers with colours and taste. For example, if you say 3, he pictures yellow and would often get a gritty lemony taste in his mouth. Strange indeed, id imagine its well difficult to describe it to people.

Undergod

It only occurs in (I think) about four different specific crossovers of the senses, so it might be posible to smell colours, but not possible to hear them. As for describing it, I imagine it would be impossible to describe it unless you have it. I'll look up more about it...

It does sound very interesting, perhaps science will give us a method of artificially experiencing it.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

any sense is impossible to describe
how could you describe blue to a blind man? Sound to a deaf man (g'wan beethoven), etc etc..

if you want to experience it, take acid.

PurpleFistMixer

I looked Synesthesia up on Everything2.com, because 'twas an interesting thing I'd heard of before and I really don't have anything better to do.
Link is here if you want it.

Seems 1 in 25(0),000(conflicting figures) people get it, it's more likely to affect lefties (hehe), women and people with autism or ADHD.

It can be induced by seizures of drug use such as LSD, brain damage and a couple of other things.

It appears to be more common in America than in Britain.

This is interesting:

It's possible that everyone is a little bit synesthetic. Use of drugs such as LSD or mush, and some other psychedelic drugs can bring on synthestetic effects. However, there's no need to go to those extremes to get an idea of what it's like. Just close your eyes and think of the number one. Does it have a colour? Now, think of the number two. Then three and four. What colours are they? Most people associate a definite colour to each number, and the colours you associate can be used as a crude personality test. The Lüscher Color Test by Dr. Max Lüscher is one example, which is described in a book of the same name. This is a mild synesthetic effect.

You can also try this with music. Listen to some good, complex, instrumental music. (I would recommend Aphex Twin or Squarepusher, but that's just me). As you listen to the song, ask yourself "what colour is this chord?" or "what shape is that drum beat?" Electronic music is good for this as it often deals more with raw sound than form, melody or lyrics as much pop music does. For me, a song like Squarepusher's "Beep Street" conjures up shades of blue and green in the bass melody. The treble melodies are orange, yellow and red and the drums explode like white firework flashes. But that's my personal interpretation, and it's probable that you will see something totally different. YMMV.

Stephen Forde

hey man how come u find sites for evert topic that comes up???? u sure do have alot of time on ur hands.......buts i suppose as its not my time it can only benefit me!!


how i so wish i had that.........then i could taste whatever my teachers say since i remember wat i ate last better than wat i heard!!

PurpleFistMixer

Actually, it's all the one site. Just go to (not so hidden plugging!) Everything2, type in your desired information into the handy little box and it should tell you. Use it wisely and muchly. Grow large with knowledge. Waste hours of your life finding out pointless things. Impress people with your knowledge.
Alright, the advertising is done.

I think it's an interesting condition. But then again, perhaps we already have it? Perhaps what we perceive to be one thing is actually another thing. But that's getting a bit philosophical now isn't it.
It would be cool. Seeing music...

halenger

Synaesthesia wrote:

I called myself synaesthesia

I made it quite clear that you were not to post under this account. Consider it banned and your ban extended for ban evasion.

-Halenger

halenger

Right well I initially closed this due to the user who started it.

I've been asked to reopen it and thus it is. As long as the content pertains to the title rather than the user I'll be happy to have it open.

Crash

Its a really interesting condition but i disagree with the rarity of it. then again i assume its probably only REALLY severe examples that get classed as synasthesia.

For instance all the numbers have a colour if i think about it. I get severe crossover between things, not necessarily senses - for instance i cant hear any songs from "sketches for my sweetheart the drunk" by jeff buckley without getting images of ff7. (was playing ff7 and listening to those albums non stop)

the funniest one though is my mental link between Eva Cassidy and HP lovecraft because i was listening to her albums a lot at the same time i was reading lots of HP lovecraft - so i cant hear the album without getting a sense of dread and lurking horror. its great

halenger

It all sounds quite common really and I agree on the rarity to be really classified as it. For example "American Bad Ass" by Kid Rock reminds me of Diablo 2. Was playing it at the time like Neil was.

I also go with smelling tastes. But surely this is just one thing reminding us of another. The smell triggers memory, memory tells me what it is and how it tastes and so forth.

pinkpimp

Well, there are only a few tastes that dont rely in smell. For example, tea would taste like boiling water if we didn't have smell receptors. The three senses of smell, taste and sight are very closely linked, so i can see how it happens, but i still think it would be unusual.

Undergod

Wouldn't it be cool if you confused some of the other senses? Like bodily-kinaesthetic and sound. Well, cool as in scary?

snuffles

Not only do my days have the week have colours, they have set pictures. Monday is a blue shopping bag being blown across the platform and a railway stations. Tuesday is a green roundabout under a tree. Wednesday is two kids on a see-saw with socks on their heads, for some obscure reason...
I've had those pictures since I was very small.

I also get set images for any album I'm listening too...first I get the feeling of the album, and then it might be in a room or a vechicle and the songs will become different aspects the place the album becomes...
I find it really hard to describe, but at the moment I'm listening to Biffy Clyro's Inhumanity Land and I'm getting the start of a corrugated tunnel with broken wires and sparks. The images don't change. I could listen to an album from years back and still get the same images I got when I first listened to it.

I doubt it's Synaesthesia thought...more than likely I'm just odd...

elephamt king

What crash and halenger are experiencing seems to be just an association of two senses rather than a confusion of them.
Some albums can make me feel hot or cold as,e.g i first heard killing in the name - RATM in a hot room and i associate that with heat.

PurpleFistMixer

That's so cool Marianne... heh.

I appear to be totally and utterly... not at all synaesthetic, which makes me sad. My numbers letters and stuff are just all in black, if I see them as images at all...

Damn, me sad.

SeanOM

when i'm listening to cormega - beautiful mind i can taste macaroon bars. Even if I'm not eating one. Does that count?

Sev

Sev wrote:

A friend of mine from college is like that, he associates numbers with colours and taste. For example, if you say 3, he pictures yellow and would often get a gritty lemony taste in his mouth. Strange indeed, id imagine its well difficult to describe it to people.

Ok, upon further discussion, I can confirm that. 3 Is green, 2 is yellow, 1 is a mottled white with blue specks. 0 is also white, curriously enough and best of all 7 is a pink/purple that kind of tastes like the strawberry heart shaped sweets in roses chocolates. Oh and the number 39 for him seems intrinsically linked with 'a forest'.

Pretty specific stuff but thats synaesthesia for you.

Caoimhe

I know its not the same thing but to me numbers have genders.
1,2,5,6,8,9 are male, 3,4,7 are female. I've thought that since I can remember

pinkpimp

thats funny cos ive always assosiated 3,4,6,8, with femininity and 7 has seemed the most masculine to me. We are pretty strange.

doonothing

yeah, wow ever since i was tinchy ive had associations with numbers and days of the week etc.... 1 is white, 0 is black, 2 is yellow, 3 is blue, 4 is pink, 5 is red, 6 is pink, 7 is purple, 8 is orange, 9 is purple....

monday is blue, tuesday is brown, wednesday is turquoise, thursday is orange-brown, friday is red, saturday is yellow, sunday is purple...

ive always associate letters of the alphabet with colours too... but im tired so no typing out now.
but yeah, what an amazing condition...

Bazookatone

Okay
1: 7 is NOT masculine, it is unbalanced, illogical, and adds chaos to any equation. Clearly it is a feminine number. the only number more chaotic and anarchic (is that a word?) is 17. I'm not sexist, but this is a universal constant of mathematics, and is proven by a number of equations in the latest paper by prof. Freeman Dyson. Ok that's a lie, but it should be true.

2: 5 is the colour of freshly cut pine and is a nice number, it doesn't make trouble when it's got to be manipulated it adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides politely.

3: Monday and Thursday are grey. Wednesday is red. Friday is a bright mustard colour. Saturday is indescribable.

4: I blame sesame street for this colour number association. Thay were always flashing up numbers in different colours when we were young. Look how screwed up we all are now.

5: 1 is my favourite number, it's simple and doesn't make my life difficult. As you can no doubt imagine after reading this message a) I don't have a girlfriend and b) seriously need one!

Piste

Monday- White, Tuesday- A kind of pale yellow, Wednesday- Green, Thursday (feminine) Pink, Friday (masculine) Brown, Saturday (Masculine) Green, Sunday a kind of creamy colour, somewhere between Monday and Tuesday

All odd numbers are masculine, All even are feminine

1- Yellow, 2-blue, 3-red, 4-blue, 5-yellow, 6-green, 7-green, 8- Pinkish/Purple, 9- Navy, 10- White

pinkpimp

Bazookatone wrote:

2: 5 is the colour of freshly cut pine and is a nice number, it doesn't make trouble when it's got to be manipulated it adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides politely.

I agree. 5 is the most sexual number around. So sweet.

the_only_Ali

I saw a programme about synaesthesia. It had a guy on it who tasted words. Every time he read a word, he actually tasted it. Apparently the name "Derek" tastes awful. I wish I could do that... except the guy gets really distracted while driving because every time he passes a roadsign he can taste it and that must be quite confusing.

gigglingrat

I dunno if this is the same thing, but I have this weird association dealy with the alphabet.

Like, I always feel kinda sorry for 't', the reject letter, cos it didn't get to go before 's', where 'r' is, and its obviously pretty cut up bout that.

And 'f', such a loner letter.

Piste

I can taste the word 'Chocolate'

PurpleFistMixer

I can taste chocolate. Mmm, toffee crisp goodness.

kms

I missed this thread's reopening! Well, not too late.

I'm a synesthete, and I've always known I have it. I can see sounds and feel them against my skin, and my alphabet is colored. It can get overwhelming sometimes, like when a car's brakes are squealing and my vision just washes over completely with red and white.

For some reason, other people seem jealous... like, I told Jesse about it, and now he asks how a certain sound looks at least once a week and wishes he could see it like I do.

I agree that it's not as rare as some people think it to be. One of the nearby universities is doing a study on synesthesia and they pay me $30 a month to come in and do some tests, and the people running the lab have found about 150 subjects with synesthesia. Then again, my city has a population of over 3 million, so I guess that's not so much.

Undergod

pinkpimp wrote:

I agree. 5 is the most sexual number around. So sweet.

No... I've always thought it too logical. Too rigid and set in its ways.
7 is really odd. Like it's being awkard for the sake of it.
8 is okay. 9 i like.