Synesthesia Study

Perception Study – Synesthesia

Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which the stimulation of one sense – sight, hearing, taste, etc. – stimulates another in a way non-synesthetes would not experience. For example, one may associate a color with a taste, or a sound with a texture. About 2-4% of the population experiences some form of synesthesia.

The most common form of synesthesia is grapheme-color synesthesia, in which a person associates letters, numbers, and/or words with specific colors. Many synesthetes report associating each month of the year and day of the week with their own unique color. Others have ordinal linguistic personification, in which these figures take on personalities and genders.

Chromesthesia is the ability to vividly picture the color or even shape of sounds, most commonly music or human voices. Like with all other synesthetic associations, these colors and shapes are not voluntarily chosen, and remain consistent in the person’s mind each time they hear the sound. Ask someone what color an album is, then ask again a year later, and you will get the same answer.

There can be some unfortunate downsides to synesthesia. Many synesthetes experience misophonia, an intense hatred of and adverse reaction to certain sounds, because of their association of that sound with an unpleasant – sometimes even painful – sight or sensation. This can make already negative experiences even worse.

 

Oftentimes, the link between senses can make consuming media more interesting – one can see the colors in their favorite song, or the texture of a piece of art. However, it can sometimes be frustrating or distracting. What if a scene is lit in blue when the soundtrack is yellow? What if someone’s voice is a particularly bright color, making it hard to focus on anything else?