Synesthesia

La Shawn has a very interesting post about a condition known as Synesthesia. Basically synesthesia is the combination of two senses (more?) that are activated from one stimulus. I saw a 20/20 piece on this years ago and found it very interesting because like La Shawn, I just thought that was how everyone experienced music, color and other things. Anyway, here is my comment on her blog after she asks for others to share their experience.

I do think I have some form of it. I have always seen the months and alphabet as having colors. April is red of course. February is quite naturally purple and 2 is yellow.

I also see things when I hear music. I saw “videos” in my head LONG before cable television (as a kid.) I can’t listen to music without some kind of unbidden visualization.

Also, at a sordid time in my past I was pulled over by a cop who decided to put me through the paces of a sobriety test. I was actually sober but… anyway. He asked me to say my ABC’s backwards. I asked him if he wanted that in English, Spanish or sign language? He said, “Take your pick.” I chose Spanish and rattled it off in one breath. He was amazed and said that sober people can’t even do that. I was surprised and said, “well, I am sober and I just did it.” When he asked how I said that I could see the whole alphabet lined up in one big long line like a picture.

Sometimes I smell things when I look at paintings … but not all the time.

Do you experience synesthesia?

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B.T.Carolus 05/27/2008 11:33 PM 1 point
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That is interesting...I do some of those things, too. But I think the alphabet thing is indicative of something else, like that you're super visually oriented (which is a much more useful trait than synaesthesia [it may be because I originally came across the word in a book from Australia, but I believe it is spelled with the extra a]).

Why do you know el alfabeto en espanol?

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Randy 05/27/2008 11:41 PM 1 point
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I have seen it spelled both ways but you are probably right. One friend said that I probably learned it on flash cards as a wee child and those colors stuck in my head. That could be but...I don't remember flash cards and it's really hard to describe what I see in my head.

I am not saying you are wrong either. I don't think I have anything anywhere near what some people are saying. Regardless, I am SUPER visual and I always think in pictures and abstractions.

I studied Spanish in high school for two years and for some reason the alphabet just seemed fun to me.

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B.T.Carolus 05/28/2008 12:44 AM 1 point
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Actually, maybe a more refined way of saying it is that you are really visually oriented and the synaesthesia and the ability to see the whole alphabet in your head are both results of it.

I took Spanish too, but I had to stop because it turns out I need way different languages for my majors (like Mediaeval Latin [nobody spells it like that anymore except one of my professors, but I think maybe retaining a in things might be a fun idiosyncracy]and Anglo-Saxon). There isn't enough room for Spanish in my schedule if I want to graduate during this decade.

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Randy 05/28/2008 08:58 AM 1 point
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You continue to have fun with that Mediaeval Latin. I wish I could join you but ... no. :) Get graduated and then take Spaenish (nobody ever spelled it like that).

As I continue to think more about this, how much of Synesthesia is actually over active imagination? I don't think it really matters because this is a look into thinking about thinking and that's intriguing to me.

::: ponder :::

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B.T.Carolus 05/28/2008 09:46 AM 1 point
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"Get graduated and then take Spaenish (nobody ever spelled it like that)."

:) LOL

You might be right about overly active imagination...but only some people seem to have such an imagination, so it is still special.

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Randy 05/28/2008 07:51 PM 1 point
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"... it is still special."

Absolutaely.

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B.T.Carolus 05/29/2008 12:33 AM 1 point
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"Absolutaely."

No, Randy, that is spelled Aebsolutely...At least that's how they spell it in Australia... ;) (Actually, if we still pronounced things the way they are pronounced in Anglo-Saxon, that would actually be how it was spelled/pronounced. Just a random fact from your freindly neighborhood Anglo-Saxon speaker.)

Plus, the new editing feature is way cool...

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Susan Hundley (Via Facebook) 05/30/2008 12:58 AM 1 point
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I found her post and the comments fascinating. I've forwarded her post on to friends and family and have found that some have synesethia. Very, very interesting.

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Susan Hundley (Via Facebook) 05/30/2008 12:59 AM 1 point
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'Synesthesia'

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Randy 05/30/2008 08:29 AM 1 point
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cool about passing on the note. I can't ever spell it right either and I have seen two versions people claim to be true.

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