Synaesthesia (also spelled synesthesia) is the neurological mixing of the senses. A synaesthete
may, for example, hear colors, see sounds, and taste tactile sensations. Although this
may happen in a person who has
autism, it is by no means exclusive to autists. Synaesthesia is a common effect of some hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD or mescaline.
Synaesthetes often experience correspondences between the shades of color, tones of sounds, and intensities of tastes that provoke alternate sensations. For instance, a synaesthete
may see a more intense red as the pitch of a
sound gets higher, or a smoother surface might make
one taste a sweeter taste. These experiences are not metaphorical or merely associations; rather, they are involuntary and are consistent throughout life, although some young synaesthetes seem to lose their ability by or during adulthood.
Synaesthesia can
even occur when one of the senses no longer functions properly, e.g., a person who can see colours when
words are spoken can still see the colours if he becomes blind in later life.
Two of the most common forms of synaesthesia are seeing
sound or seeing letters and numbers in color.
Richard Cytowic wrote a pop-psych book about this condition entitled The Man Who Tasted Shapes.
In synaesthesia's most common form (Grapheme-color synaenesthesia), individual letters of the
alphabet, as
well as numbers, are "shaded" or "tinged" with a color. The
alphabet color pattern is different for every individual. Many synaesthetes report that they were unaware their abilities were special or unusual until they realized other people didn't have them
'A' can appear to be bright yellow and 'M' can be a crimson,
deep red color. Also objects like a chair can have personality and
music can have taste. Depends on what type of Synaesthesia you have, you experience things differently.
Nick Carraway, the narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, recounts "yellow cocktail
music" playing at one of Gatsby's parties.
Ludwig van Beethoven considered B minor to be "the black key," and Franz Schubert viewed E minor as like "a maiden robed in white and with a rose-red bow on her
breast." In such cases of
long-dead people, it is difficult to tell whether they were describing their synesthesia or using figures of speech.
