We hear sounds, see images, taste flavors, smell scents, and can touch near any kind of object that we can feel. Our brain is responsible for interpreting the complex interactions of the sensory information. We have relied on this method for survival thousands of years, however there are those that find their senses colliding in a particular way that combines one or more of their senses. For hundreds of years this ability was thought of as an effect from drug use or trickery, but today it is known as Synesthesia and it is real.
Synesthesia is a Greek word that combines the meanings “union” and “sensation” (Live Science). It is self explanatory that this ability causes involuntary experiences where one may merge certain senses together. It wasn’t until the last decade that scientists began studying these abnormalities. Today there is no answer as to what causes Synesthesia. All that is known is that it is not specific to which senses are combined and that these cases are in small numbers such as the 1 in every 2,000 persons predicted by the Society for Neuroscience.
Some may taste, hear, or smell colors. Ingrid Casey is an example of someone who could do all three. She also claimed that “numbers and letters, sensations and emotions, days and months are all associated with colors…” (Live Science). However, Dorothy Latham is a synesthete that can only see words as colors. Whenever she reads or listens to spoken words “she sees them, spelled out letter by letter, on colorful tickertape in front of her head” (BBC). James Wannerton is a whole other kind of puzzle as he associates sound and taste rather than anything with color. The name “Derek” gives him the taste of earwax while another name will give him “the taste of wet nappies” (BBC). Although there are numerous combinations of senses in Synesthesia there are two specific groups that help determine a small difference in the synesthetes. There is that of the “perceptual” category where their combinations are provoked by sensory stimuli. Examples would be sight and sound. Then there is that of the “conceptual” synesthetes who “respond to abstract concepts like time. One conceptual synesthete described the months of the year as a flat ribbon surrounding her body, each month a distinct color” (Live Science).
There are numerous ways to test and prove Synesthesia is not made up. For those that are of perceptual synesthetes they can be tested similar to the group at the University of California where Dr. V. S. Ramachandran and Edward Hubbard took volunteers to determine where the hidden number 2’s were in an illustration of black and white 2’s and 5’s. “Most people took several seconds to find all the 2s. To synesthetes, they popped out immediately in contrasting colors” (Underwood, Anne). There is even the double-check where years after a synesthete has detailed what they see or taste, they will be asked to repeat the same information given the same tests and it is proven “their associations remain consistent” (Motluck, Alison). They continually use this method on the blind because of their inability to see yet their consistent claims of associations remain.
With the small number of years spent studying this abnormality little exact research has been formulated. “Synaesthesia appears to run in families, which suggests a genetic link. There may be slightly more women synesthetes than men” (BBC). This then proposes the trait may be passed from the x-chromosome. It is easier to find the trait passed from mother to daughter or mother to son rather than father to son as it is not the “dominant fashion” (BBC). However, the actual gene has not been determined and after a “study of blind and blindfolded people by Megan Steven and colleagues at the University of Oxford” suggestions were made “that while genes almost certainly play a role, it may be a minor one” (Motluck, Alison).
One of their blind subjects “had always thought of days and months as having colors. Instruments in an orchestra and even his pay scale at work were also color-coded in his mind. After learning Braille, he began experiencing colors when he touched the raised Braille characters” (Motluck, Alison). Such things as reading Braille, playing instruments, and the knowledge of time require a learning aspect. A person must adapt to these situations and with this subject he took his “pre-existing Synesthesia to incorporate them (Mutlock, Alison).
Synesthesia should not be looked at as a fault that one needs to fix, but rather a higher form of creativity caused by the spontaneous combinations of the senses. Numerous synesthetes are considered artistic. A “survey by Grossenbacher found that out of 84 synesthetes, 26 were professional artists, writers or musicians, and 44, serious amateurs” (Underwood, Anne). For most with this ability they find themselves not only use to their Synesthesia, but able to live a more expressive life. Numerous famous stars and writers have had this ability. Hip- Hop artist Pharrell Williams, Jazz musician Duke Ellington, the poets Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire as well as many more are among the few who’s “senses combine for a hyper-reality” (The Science Channel).
Synesthesia is a real ability for a small number of people that is not caused by drug use, trickery or even mental illness. It is simply involuntary experiences where one may merge certain senses together that create a much different reality. Little testing has been completed due to the time spent on this ability being designated to only the last decade. There is no clear cause as to why only certain people become synesthetes or a certain gene that can be linked to determine who will and won’t have these capabilities. Some see sounds, some taste images, and some can have a mixture of up to 4 senses. Synesthesia is a combination of environment, genes and depending on how someone looks at Synesthesia, luck.
Channel, The Science. “When Senses Collide.” 2012. Discovery Communications. January 2012.
“Derek Tastes of Earwax.” 2011. BBC. January 2012.
“Health.” 2012. BBC. January 2012.
“Live Science.” 2005. Tech Media Network. January 2012.
Motluck, Alison. “Wierd Links With Words and Colours in the Mind.” 2004. New Scientist. January 2012.
Underwood, Anne. “The Newsweek.” 2011. The Daily Beast. January 2012.
