Anybody else here diagnosed with Synesthesia???

Definition from Wikipedia


"Synesthesia (also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiae or synaesthesiae)—from the Ancient Greek σύν (syn), meaning "with," and αἴσθησις (aisthēsis), meaning "sensation"'—is a neurologically-based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. In one common form of synesthesia, known as grapheme → color synesthesia, letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored, while in ordinal linguistic personification, numbers, days of the week and months of the year evoke personalities. In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may be "farther away" than 1990), or may have a (three-dimensional) view of a year as a map (clockwise or counterclockwise).

While cross-sensory metaphors (e.g., "loud shirt", "bitter wind" or "prickly laugh") are sometimes described as "synesthetic", true neurological synesthesia is involuntary. It is estimated that synesthesia could possibly be as prevalent as 1 in 23 persons across its range of variants (Simner et al. 2006) (see below for more details). Synesthesia runs strongly in families, but the precise mode of inheritance has yet to be ascertained. Synesthesia is also sometimes reported by individuals under the influence of psychedelic drugs, after a stroke, or as a consequence of blindness or deafness. "


So this condition is very rare, but both me and my dad have it.

My dad sees words in color, and I can taste color.

Now, when I say I can taste color, I don't mean that I have a memory of a taste that involves a color. Most people can kind of taste lemon when they see yellow or maybe taste black licorice when they see black-

This, however, is not synesthesia- this is when a memory of a taste is triggered by a color..

Synesthesia, on the other hand, has nothing to do with memories. When I say I can taste color, I mean that I cn actually TASTE the color- as if I am actually tasting something. It is a real taste, not just a memory of one.

My condition is somewhat common in artists and runs in families. I am an artist, and both my mom and dad have it to a small degree..

So here is how it works for me. When I look at a color, I have a certai ntaste for it. This taste does not change for the color.

Black tastes like metal- like copper. It is sort of unpleasant
Orange tastes sweet- not candylike, but more like a mango or a fig
White tastes faintly salty- like dilluted ocean water
Green tastes spicy
Purple tastes mildly peppery
I can barely taste brown
Yellow tastes nutty and buttery... kind of like Nutella without the chocolate
Blue tastes tart and liquidy.. a bit sweet, too.
Red has a very faint bitter taste- also sort of unpleasant.


And those are the only colors I can taste.... there are some others, but they are very faint.


So does anyone have to deal with this condition?

I once knew a lady that could see letter and numbers in long lists... actually see them.. without any visual stimulation.

Its a really interesting condition.

 

I was also diagnosed with ADD three separate times and I have a Fantasy- Prone personality.

 

Wow, thats pretty amazing and weird, I've heard about that condition before but Ive never met some one who acaully had it.

 

I thought everyone was like me until 12th grade when I met a math teacher that had emotions tied with numbers. Then I knew.

 

In music, different notes have a distinct different colour, no matter what context they are in...

If I play a C, it would be blue
D is a lighter green
G is a dark green
E is just strange and I can't quite describe the colour
F is yellow-orange
Bb, Eb and Eb change depending on my mood.
A is a REALLY strong red colour.
And soforth...

I don't "see" these colours, but it is far more than a memory or association...it's really hard to descibe. I never thought anything of it until I read some article about it in a magazine my uncle had and realized it was familiar.

 

im not quite synaethsiac but I do have an odd function of my mind where I don't think in words, i think in geometry and spaces. And the aethstetic quality of certain spaces and shapes just come out as words when I talk... like they just sort of automatically translate themselves to words. But inside my head its typically all 3D space and shapes.

 

right, Skip- it is involutntary and the sense is just as real as any other sense, like hearing an airplane or tasting food.

That is a very interesting form of Synesthesia, Skip.

All humans have some degree of synesthesia, I think. For a few, it is much more pronounced, however.

 

that's is amazing

does it ever cause problems
or make life difficult?
or make life extra special?

 

nope not for me... Again, I have only lived this life, so I don't know if it's easier or harder being a non- synesthete.

 

i have synesthesia as well, and i taste colors, especially green. i also see sounds as colors, mainly loud sounds, but a symphony is a color experience. I am not an artist, but even in general life situations, i find that i see the world in a different way from most people. People think that i'm crazy when i try to explain because my perceptions extend to include all sorts of various sensory things and every single thing i experience has multi-layered signifigance.