Synesthesia

Before researching Synesthesia I had no idea what this word meant. Nor did I realize that there were many different types of Synesthesia or that up to 4 percent of the population has some form of synesthesia. One of the types of Synesthesia which is the most common, deals with a person who may associate individual numbers or letters with a specific color. I tried to do this myself with associating a number with a color but I could not picture anything that solidified what the letter S represents other than it’s the letter of my first name and my favorite color is blue, so naturally S should be blue. I don’t think this qualifies me as someone with this ability.

If you had the ability to combine multiple senses, I think it would allow you to see the world in a more artistic way because you have a way to identify certain objects, sounds, colors or words and give them a distinct characteristic. It could also be very limiting for example if you associate the shape of a circle with the color red, then would every circle you draw have to be red, or do you just see it that way and can make a conscious choice to change the color to purple or something else, but still knowing full well that it should be red.

I found a website that gives you a little test to see if you may have any signs of this condition. You can check it out here: http://www.synesthesiatest.org/

What is even more interesting to me are people that have the ability to actually evoke a certain taste when they associate or hear certain words. This is a very rare form called, Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesia. It would be interesting to see what words had what flavor, and if you could taste it after hearing a specific word, would you also crave that food or be disgusted by it?

The biggest take away from learning about Synesthesia is that everyone perceive reality in a variety of ways. This also makes me think how no two people see color the same way or how subjective a piece of art is to each individual. If I could pick a type of Synesthesia to have it would be the ability to taste color. I want to know what blue tastes like.