“My mother taught me to read when I was four, and the letters in the words that I saw had specific colors. She used black and white flash cards so I don't know where the color came from.” (“Synesthesia Interview”). This is a common scenario for a Synesthetic. Tasting colors, seeing colors from certain sounds, and other examples of types of Synesthesia may just seem ludicrous to the average person, but this condition seems normal to Synesthetic and often is not identified until adulthood! Synesthesia is a condition that can be described as mixing up senses at a neurological level. But what makes this phenomenon happen? This paper will examine and analyze history, causes, treatments, and case studies of this amazing feat.
Approximately …show more content…
There are many types of Synesthesia. Some of the most common forms are Number forms, colored letters, flavored words, colored hearing, and personification of letters and numbers. Number forms is a type of Synesthesia where the person has symptoms of seeing numbers in their visual fields, as well as seeing numbers as certain colors. For example, if a Synesthetic with this type of Synesthesia were to be shown plain white math flashcard with black text, they might see the number four as blue, the number 6 as gold, etc. And the colors vary from person to person as well. Colored Letters is a very similar case to that of Number figures, where the Synesthetic will identify certain letters as one color. Flavored words is one that of which the Synesthetic will pinpoint a certain word and taste together. An example if this would be one seeing the word “The” and getting an apple taste in their mouth. Colored hearing can be described as hearing a sound and in the visual field, a color will show up. Lastly, the personification of letters and numbers is when the Synesthetic will identify a personality with a number of letter. For example, if a Synesthetic with this type were to think someone was nice, they could identify that with the number three, or the letter “j” …show more content…
Written about in the book called The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Watson hosted a dinner party where his condition was accidentally discovered. Watson had sensations of someone touching his face and/or hands upon certain scents and sounds. “‘With an intense flavor,” he explained, “the feeling sweeps down my arm into my hand and I feel shape, weight, texture, and temperature as if I’m actually grasping something”. He had wanted the chicken to be a prickly, pointed sensation, “like laying my hand on a bed of nails.’” (Cytowic 3) Richard Cytowic, the author of the book and friend of Watson, was ridiculed for taking the disease seriously because, at the time, it went against what was known about “separate sensory channels in the brain” (Cytowic 4). Watson’s case, and Richard’s notification of Watson in the psychological and medical field began to give Synesthesia a bigger name. This case played an important role of bringing this condition to the public, not just being seen as “being crazy” or in a drugged state, but as the actual medical state it
Approximately …show more content…
There are many types of Synesthesia. Some of the most common forms are Number forms, colored letters, flavored words, colored hearing, and personification of letters and numbers. Number forms is a type of Synesthesia where the person has symptoms of seeing numbers in their visual fields, as well as seeing numbers as certain colors. For example, if a Synesthetic with this type of Synesthesia were to be shown plain white math flashcard with black text, they might see the number four as blue, the number 6 as gold, etc. And the colors vary from person to person as well. Colored Letters is a very similar case to that of Number figures, where the Synesthetic will identify certain letters as one color. Flavored words is one that of which the Synesthetic will pinpoint a certain word and taste together. An example if this would be one seeing the word “The” and getting an apple taste in their mouth. Colored hearing can be described as hearing a sound and in the visual field, a color will show up. Lastly, the personification of letters and numbers is when the Synesthetic will identify a personality with a number of letter. For example, if a Synesthetic with this type were to think someone was nice, they could identify that with the number three, or the letter “j” …show more content…
Written about in the book called The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Watson hosted a dinner party where his condition was accidentally discovered. Watson had sensations of someone touching his face and/or hands upon certain scents and sounds. “‘With an intense flavor,” he explained, “the feeling sweeps down my arm into my hand and I feel shape, weight, texture, and temperature as if I’m actually grasping something”. He had wanted the chicken to be a prickly, pointed sensation, “like laying my hand on a bed of nails.’” (Cytowic 3) Richard Cytowic, the author of the book and friend of Watson, was ridiculed for taking the disease seriously because, at the time, it went against what was known about “separate sensory channels in the brain” (Cytowic 4). Watson’s case, and Richard’s notification of Watson in the psychological and medical field began to give Synesthesia a bigger name. This case played an important role of bringing this condition to the public, not just being seen as “being crazy” or in a drugged state, but as the actual medical state it