Synesthesia is a neurological ‘phenomenon’ (the opposite of anesthesia, which means ‘no sensation’) that causes people to experience sensations in one part of the body because of simulation in other organs of the body.
Research has shown that this is not just a memory exercise, but a genuine phenomenon. This is because it happens without the person thinking about it and it is ‘experienced’ rather than ‘made up’. Once a particular sensation has been attached (during childhood) to an object, it stays for life! For example, synesthetes might associate a name, say ‘Dave’ with purple, then remember the name through the color rather than the color through the name. What is even more astounding is that there might even be actual anatomical differences in the brains of synesthetes like increased white matter or grey matter.
A synesthete might not only hear sounds, but also see it, taste it, or feel it (physically). A little …show more content…
People with this kind of synesthesia associate letters, numbers and colors. Seeing a number simulates the grapheme region and the area of the visual cortex that responds to color stimuli. For example, 5 can be associated with the color blue, or the letter A with red. This does not mean that they literally ‘see’ blue-colored 5s. In the image, the 2s would ‘pop’ out and be visible instantly to a synaesthete than a normal person.
Chromesthesia: Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky (who had chromesthesia) believed in the expression of inner and essential feelings in art, rather than the representation of façades. He went to a concert and created a painting based on what he saw while listening to the concert. He could essentially ‘see’ music! This sounds pretty enticing and one would almost want to be a synesthete. How cool would it be to ‘see’ sounds. The sad news is that it is not acquired during life but inherited through
Research has shown that this is not just a memory exercise, but a genuine phenomenon. This is because it happens without the person thinking about it and it is ‘experienced’ rather than ‘made up’. Once a particular sensation has been attached (during childhood) to an object, it stays for life! For example, synesthetes might associate a name, say ‘Dave’ with purple, then remember the name through the color rather than the color through the name. What is even more astounding is that there might even be actual anatomical differences in the brains of synesthetes like increased white matter or grey matter.
A synesthete might not only hear sounds, but also see it, taste it, or feel it (physically). A little …show more content…
People with this kind of synesthesia associate letters, numbers and colors. Seeing a number simulates the grapheme region and the area of the visual cortex that responds to color stimuli. For example, 5 can be associated with the color blue, or the letter A with red. This does not mean that they literally ‘see’ blue-colored 5s. In the image, the 2s would ‘pop’ out and be visible instantly to a synaesthete than a normal person.
Chromesthesia: Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky (who had chromesthesia) believed in the expression of inner and essential feelings in art, rather than the representation of façades. He went to a concert and created a painting based on what he saw while listening to the concert. He could essentially ‘see’ music! This sounds pretty enticing and one would almost want to be a synesthete. How cool would it be to ‘see’ sounds. The sad news is that it is not acquired during life but inherited through