Synesthesia

[Conman]

but i know i do. i dont need that test. if i taste and smell colors (typically, not while influenced), then i think that's enough evidence. haha

"Hey, what smells like blue?!"
"Did everything taste purple for just a sec?"

[electric76]

There are so many different forms of synesthesia that people don't realize. For example, numbers to me have distinct personalities. I really liked addition and subtraction in early elementary school because their friendships and dramas made sense. Single digits were the kids, and their double digits were the resulting relationship. It is hard to explain it now being a little more separated from it, but I still "feel" the numbers in some sense. Didn't know that ANY other person did that until this summer googling it!

Another thing I've experienced is subtitles when people are talking. I don't literally see them, but I imagine how words are spelled most of the time when people are talking to me. I used to wonder (and still do wonder) how people can be such bad spellers if they "see" certain words all the time when spoken. Don't get me wrong, its not like I had an internal dictionary, but I felt that part of my brain got a lot of practice.

I also associate colors and textures to experiences and time periods, but they aren't known to our visual spectrum. They are too abstract for words, and not fully imaginable. Just very strongly felt. I try to discuss this with a lot of different people, and although they think they understand, they can't contribute at all in the same direction of thought.

[kathrynsmathryn]

I don't have synesthesia, but I do sometimes wish I could experience it. I read a book called "A Mango Shaped Space" By Wendy Mass which first introduced be to the concept a few years ago. I always remembered it and wondered what things looked/sounded/tasted like through someone with it.

[lady_peace]

I don't know if it is synesthesia or not but depending on the texture and colors of things, they can have different feelings and send out emotions. It's quite hard to describe, writing it down.

[Conman]

hmm, dont know about that. it sounds like it can be synesthesia. ask a professional or a super high ranking person on forums who is older and wiser

[Fortune]

Originally Posted by lady_peace

I don't know if it is synesthesia or not but depending on the texture and colors of things, they can have different feelings and send out emotions. It's quite hard to describe, writing it down.

Pretty much any situation where you get mixed signals from a particular kind of stimulus can be synesthesia.

So this may very well be.

[Conman]

...fire smells blue

[pooka]

Originally Posted by electric76

There are so many different forms of synesthesia that people don't realize. For example, numbers to me have distinct personalities. It is hard to explain it now being a little more separated from it, but I still "feel" the numbers in some sense.

I totally have this...I always liked the number 4 because she's the most like me, but I wanted to be more like 8 because she's very cool and sophisticated. 2 is kind of like the hyper little brother, 1 is a total snob. 3 is kind of bratty but people put up with her anyways, 6 is really patient and kind, 9 thinks he's too cool for school, 5 is a bit of a stick in the mud, 7 is very sneaky and cunning, and 10 is well-rounded and nice enough but kind of dumb. The personalities are most clear for these ones, the numbers 1 through 10, after that I stopped caring as much or something, but I do associate some other numbers with personality traits too.

[Conman]

after a night of raining it smells brown outside

[fracturedstory]

I don't experience much personalities or know what colours smell like but letters and numbers have colours, texture and shape. Some letters remind me of numbers because they're the same colour.
I can remember locations from how they smell.
Words have smells and tastes to them. Like if I started craving bbq chips. I hesitated to write that because, oh crap, I can smell and taste it. I'm going to go mad now because I've haven't got any bbq chips on me.
When watching fire or smoke on TV I can smell a smoke machine.

I've tried to write a coded language in colour. It's fun and relaxing to just sit back and think about it.

DAMN THOSE BBQ CHIPS!

Music has some very distinct colour patterns and shapes too. Psychedelic music really brings it out. And no I don't have to be on LSD. Most of what I've heard of LSD trips sound like regular life to me.

Damn Friday for being green and just out of Earth's reach. I wish it would come down and join Wednesday. My sister does this too and we have the best conversations about it, though she's so profound that she'll freak out if you talk about a day that's not here yet.

[Assumption]

Hmm, does music -> emotion/physical sensations count?

Certain parts of music will make me close to tears (not necessarily sad though) or will give me the shivers (all my arm hairs stand on end and I feel cold and almost shivery). Usually it's in a good part of a piece of music, where the key modulates or some tension in the chord progression is resolved in a pleasing way. For instance, it's hard to describe but at about 1:03, 2:15 (and not 3:15, really) in "No I in Threesome" by Interpol makes me feel really bittersweet. Actually, I'm not sure bittersweet is the right term. I don't know how to describe it. It's a rush of some kind. Like a buildup of tension and release. I think it may be a change from a minor to major key (I'm only vaguely musically literate). It has nothing to do with the lyrics, by the way (I can really hear what they're singing anyway).

I think most people probably experience what I'm describing but I also suspect that mine's a little more intense than most people experience.

Another thing that I *sometimes* get is that music is associated with force/pressure. But then, I'm not sure how weird that is, either. Sound waves are just vibrations, after all.

[ChangelingGirl]

I have synesthesia too. I mostly experien ce grapheme-color synesthesia and some sound-color synesthesia.

[Conman]

sound-color? im partially deaf so i want to hear about these sound-color types you speak of haha

[T-Rex65]

Yeah, except for one particular instance when I was in an altered state, I don't think I've ever experienced it. I find it very interesting though. A former boss said his son had it. Certain days of the week had certain colors, and those colors were consistent over time.

[MWalker]

Interesting stuff. I didn't know there was a name for these kind of perceptual interactions. In my mind words are defined by sounds. Not the literal sound of the word, but a particular tone or chord. If someone is reading aloud or reciting something I know, and they change a word or skip something, it's like someone played the totally wrong chord in the middle of the song. I never really considered that it was a different way of perceiving things until recently. It's not something I would ever want to lose, but it mostly keeps me from ever wanting to listen to music as hardly anything can compare to the music inside my head.