
The Power of Crossed Brain Wires: Synesthesia makes ordinary life marvelous - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/issue/86/energy/the-power-of-crossed-brain-wires
======
throwaway_pdp09
Experiment here. I'm haven't synesthesia but I do have some associations of
colour and their brightness/darkness with days of the week (these don't match
those in the article). If anyone wants to do the same, mine are below in
base64 (emacs has base64-decode-region or you can do it online). I'd be
interested if there's a correlation.

    
    
      c2F0dXJkYXkgLSBkYXJraXNoIGdyZXksIGJsYWNraXNoCgpzdW5kYXkgLSB3aGl0ZQoKbW9uZGF5
      IC0gZGVmaW5pdGVseSBzdHJvbmcgcmVkCgp0dWVzZGF5IC0gc29tZXRoaW5nIGRhcmssIGxpa2Ug
      dmVyeSBkYXJrIHB1cnBsZQoKd2VkbmVzZGF5IC0gbGlnaHQsIHBlcmhhcHMgbGlnaHQgZ3JlZW4s
      IGxpbWUKCnRodXJzZGF5IC0gZGVlcCBwdXJwbGUtaXNoLCBibGFja2lzaCwgbGlrZSB0aHVuZGVy
      Y2xvdWRzICgndGh1cicgZ2l2ZXMgaXQgdGhlIGRhcmtuZXNzIGF0dHJpYnV0ZSkKCmZyaWRheSAt
      IGxpZ2h0IGdyZXk=
    

Promise, entirely inoffensive!

~~~
AtHeartEngineer
Why did you base64 it? I was expecting an image, but if it's just text, why
didnt you just post the text?

~~~
teruakohatu
So that their experience does not influence anyone else I guess.

~~~
throwaway_pdp09
Exactly, precisely, this.

------
cardamomo
I think I may have color–grapheme synesthesia. For the most part, I don't pay
attention to the colors that I perceive in letters and numbers. But then I
read an article like this, which quotes someone during the colors they see,
and a voice in my mind shouts, "That's not the color of L!"

As a tangent, I wonder if there is any association between color–grapheme
synesthesia and spelling or reading ability. I work as a kindergarten and
first grade teacher, so I have the pleasure of guiding many young minds of all
kinds as they begin to read.

~~~
0d9eooo
I have color-grapheme synesthesia. I was in a study once because of it and got
frustrated by the colors on the screen being offered in the study, because
they generally weren't quite right in capturing the colors correctly.

I had kind of a similar experience as what you're describing. I didn't even
know there was a term for it, and just sort of assumed everyone experienced
things that way, like phosphenes or things like that. Then I was reading an
article about it, and realized they were talking about my experience.

------
enchiridion
Is there a term for "seeing" music? Not anything visual perse, but like a
minds eye landscape texture. I think it might be associative synethesia?

~~~
mettamage
I remember seeing a discovery channel documentary where they put a musician
under an MRI and a lot of his brain lit up.

So I suspect it’s actually part of the common human experience and not
synesthesia.

If you would actually _see_ it, IRL then that would be synesthesia.

If you see it in your mind’s eye as vividly as you see things IRL then it
depends.

Disclaimer: not an expert, I simply have a small interest in these topics.
During my bachelor synesthesia was perhaps covered for 5 minutes. I learned
more about it on my own.

~~~
monadic2
How do people distinguish between “actually seeing it” and a visualization?

I’ve heard it being used to memorize the digits of pi, so it’s clearly
extraordinary, but it’s difficult to see what is a normal reaction to music in
the first place. I can’t imagine “just” perceiving the music at all.

~~~
mettamage
Lucid dreams are much more akin to seeing it than whatever I “see” in my minds
eye.

------
kanobo
When I listen to music sometimes I start to taste a tanginess or sweetness in
my mouth. Much the same way my mouth starts to salivate and feel strange when
I imagine eating a sour lemon. I think that's pretty common? Is that related
to to synesthesia or am I just hungry?

~~~
in3d
Sounds like synesthesia to me.

------
Causality1
The degree of awe taken when speaking about synesthesia has always mystified
me. I don't think authors would use such flowery language if they were talking
about someone seeing an illusory life coach or some other "beneficial"
hallucination.

~~~
yipbub
Being awed at any beneficial hallucination sounds appropriate to me. It seems
awe-some. Clearly, it enriches the lives of whoever has it.

------
stordoff
I've suspected for a while I might have _very_ low grade synesthesia. Almost
nothing triggers it, but for certain types of white wine, I can't describe the
taste as anything other than blue, and my mind fills with that colour
(something close to #349beb; I don't see it per se, but it somehow feels like
more than just imagining it). 5s also often feel like they should be red, but
I suspect that's just an association I've picked up from somewhere, as I don't
actually perceive them as that.

~~~
in3d
One example of low-grade synesthesia that many people have is when you ask
them what shade is deep, distant rumble of thunder (without seeing the
lightning strike). Almost everyone will say that it’s dark despite the
association with very bright lightning.

~~~
rpmisms
Yeah, it's a steely gray, like the clouds it seems to boom from.

Isn't that more of an evolutionary trait than a unique disorder/neurodiverse
trait? Seems like grey = loud sounds = fear would increase survivability.
Synesthesia is typically diagnosed as a seemingly illogical pairing between
different sensory experiences. Thunder being a dark color is logical.

~~~
in3d
I don’t know the reason for it but when I experience audio -> visual
synesthesia, the lower sounds are invariably darker than higher sounds.

~~~
rpmisms
I would imagine that our body subconsciously pairs amplitude and frequency.
BRB, gonna go re-read my entire Oliver Sacks collection.

------
bryanrasmussen
I suppose if you could give people synesthesia via a drug for a couple hours
that might be marvelous but for the people who have it all the time it must
just be ordinary life.

------
KingFelix
Anyone interested should check out Dr Ramachandrans research at UCSD. Capgras
delusion, Phantom limb, synesthesia, mirror neurons, all great rabbit holes.
Also some great documentaries, I think Secrets of the mind is one, and also
the Boy with the incredible brain ( savant/ seeing shapes for math etc) Great
stuff

------
zabloorg
I have always felt that the colors purple, red, pink, orange, and yellow
perfectly match the flavors grape, cherry, strawberry, orange, and lemon.
Grape tastes much darker than lemon, cherry tastes darker than strawberry,
etc. Is this synesthesia, or is it just learned association?

------
lokl
I experience a rather boring form of this, sight inducing touch sensations. It
can be uncomfortable to look at some things because of the association.
Otherwise, very little impact that I'm aware of. So, it's not all about the
color of music and numbers and memory aids.

------
balancedchakras
Also known as imagination

~~~
in3d
Same as people seeing walls melting when doing psychedelics just have
imaginations?

