synesthesia logue

I found and took the Synesthesia Battery of tests at synesthete.org this week and was so excited about the visulization software that they had for spatial-sequence that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. All week I’ve been researching more about all forms of synesthesia (which is how I found all those awesome articles that I linked in my first post).

Toward the beginning of my Googling, I came across a page talking about synesthesia and asking for synesthetes in the Houston area to be volunteers for their research. However, the page had no dates on it, and there was no link to that page from anywhere else on the site. I decided to give it a shot anyway and email the doctor (Dr. Eagleman at Baylor) to find out. To my surprise me emailed me back within the hour and put me in contact with one of his graduate students!

I’ve been corresponding with her all week, and she asked me to participate in their research. The experiment they are running right now involves doing an fMRI of the brain while the synesthete performs certain tasks (I don’t know all the details yet) to see which areas of the brain are working for different things. I’m scheduled to do this next Thursday morning. Woohoo!

She also asked me if anyone in my family had grapheme-color synesthesia since they are doing research to trace this genetically. Coincidentally, I was planning to visit my parents that afternoon and talk to them about it. Strangely, up until this point nobody in my family even knew about my synesthesia. I spoke to my family about it. My mom was trying to understand the concepts but was having trouble, so I was certain she didn’t have it. She asked me to explain the grapheme-color variant one more time, so I did. Thus our conversation follows.

Kelley: For example, ask someone “What color is 5?” and they–
Mom: — GREEN! — gasp! — *covers her mouth in surprise*
Kelley: Mom! Oh my god! You have synesthesia!
Mom: *still slightly in shock* … But… I didn’t understand what you meant until now. I never even thought about it, actually, until now.
Kelley: *elated* So your five is green? Mine is blue!!
Mom: But I can only go up to five… And only ABC… But E is yellow. And 1 is always yellow….
Kelley: *bouncing like a loon*

I’m still excited about it, and every time I remember her blurting out “GREEN!” and then covering her mouth in surprise… I just can’t help but giggle! I have never met anyone IN PERSON with synesthesia. It’s one thing to talk about it online, but I didn’t realize how different (and validating) it would be to actually speak to someone who shares something so special with you.

In any case, I can’t wait for the fMRI next week. I’ll post about it here! It would be so awesome if they let me have a couple of the pictures. (Oh yeah and they said they will pay me for my time, too! Wow.)

In my grapheme – color synesthesia, every letter has a specific color, although some are more distinct than others. When I look at words, I see every letter’s color, but they usually blend together and the word becomes the color of the combined letters, or the most prominent color of all the letters, or the color of the first letter in the word. Some words take on a color based on their meaning, while others’ colors can be different from their meanings.

For example, the word “yellow” is initially yellow. This might be because of its meaning, but also because three of its letters are yellow (Y and L), and O is a light orange. As the word’s initial color fades, however, I can see the underlying blues of the E and the W. The word “banana” however, is never yellow. It is always an orange-ish red, because B and N are orange, while A is red. Because of the repeating color sequence in this word (not to mention its fun alliterative quality), I really enjoy this word. Another example is my name: Kelley. While K, L, and Y are all yellow, E is blue. So my name becomes a blend of blues and yellows that gets translated into green. Perhaps this is because Kelley is also a shade of green, and because it is my favorite color so I tend to associate myself with green. Interesting, that.

Whenever I hear audible speech, I see the words in my head. This is why it is essential for me to know how words are properly spelled (and pronounced), because it all is important to how I perceive them. I can’t know a word’s “true color” unless I know how it is properly spelled, and that frustrates me. (Similarly, I can’t know a word’s “true taste” unless I know how it is properly pronounced). When thinking of letters individually, they always have the same color, and I see them in their proper place along my alphabet line. Below I’ve made a little diagram of my letter sequence along with each letter’s color. (As an aside, all punctuation marks are black. That is not to say that they are colorless – they have a color: black.)

Similarly, each number has a specific color. Each digit 0-9 has its own color, but when they are combined to form larger numbers, each digit retains its original color. So a string of digits, like 67521, does not have an overall color (like words do). I would still see the number as lightgreen-orange-blue-magenta-white. Because of this, some numbers are more beautiful to me than others. Since green is my favorite color, that may be why I have such an adoration of the number 3 and its multiples (even 6 is green, and 9 is a close neighbor – yellow). Numbers like 24, 56, and 99 are especially lovely to look at. Perhaps that is also why I so enjoys patterns and palindromes in numbers. I also see my numbers along a sequence line. While not as complex and whirly as other synesthetes’ mine is still particular enough to count (I think). Below, I’ve made a diagram of my digits’ colors, and a drawing of my number line.

“It is really difficult to portray my number-line in a two-dimensional space. The line snakes in and out, closer to me and farther away from me. Negative numbers plunge infinitely downward. Numbers above 200 rise infinitely left and upward.”

Synesthesia (also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiae or synaesthesiae)—from the Ancient Greek σύν (syn), “together,” and αἴσθησις (aisthēsis), “sensation” — is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been synesthetic, but I didn’t even know that what I had was unusual — or that it had a name — until a few years ago. Even in college when my eccentric Design teacher was telling us about synesthesia, it still didn’t register with me. I don’t even really remember anything she said about synesthesia; I just remember her trying to explain it and being very excited about it. Perhaps it was because she had a mystical idea of what it was — since she doesn’t have it. In any case… a few years after that, my dear friend Miss EC introduced me to what synesthesia really is, and I instantly related.

Grapheme → Color Synesthesia
In one of the most common forms of synesthesia, grapheme → color synesthesia, individual letters of the alphabet and numbers (collectively referred to as graphemes), are “shaded” or “tinged” with a color. While synesthetes do not, in general, report the same colors for all letters and numbers, studies of large numbers of synesthetes find that there are some commonalities across letters (e.g., A is likely to be red)

This has always been a part of me. I’ve never known letters or numbers without color. By extension, words are colored also. Days of the week also have a specific color and months of the year have a specific color (which may or may not correspond to the color of the actual word). I will go into more detail about this in my next blog post. For a good article about synesthesia, please go here: link.

Spatial-Sequence or Time-Space Synesthesia
One type of synesthesia studies is called spatial sequence synesthesia, in which synesthetes experience time units (such as weekdays or numberlines) in distinct spatial configurations.

Again, this has always been a part of me. I see the months of the year, days of the week, and hours in the day in a spatial, circular sequence in front of me. I see numbers along a specific line pattern, but it isn’t as complex as other synesthetes with number-lines. In addition, I also see letters of the alphabet along a specific sequence line that cascades in space. I will go into more detail about this in my next blog post. For an excellent article about spatial-sequence synesthesia, please go here: link.

Sound → Color Synesthesia
In sound → color synesthesia, individuals experience colors in response to tones or other aspects of sounds.

Music makes me see colors. Certain instruments are especially vibrant in my mind, and certain music more so than others. In addition, sounds and music often illicit specific touch sensations.

Lexical → Gustatory Synesthesia
In a rare form of synesthesia, lexical → gustatory synesthesia, individual words and phonemes of spoken language evoke the sensations of taste in the mouth.

I have this as well, but to a lesser extent. Not every word will illicit a specific flavor. But words do have a profound impact on my mouth. Some words taste and feel delicious in my mouth. Some words are too bitter to say. Some words are uncomfortable for my mouth to hold. Some works make me nauseous. It works whether I am speaking the word or hearing someone else speak it.

Mitempfindung
Referred itch (also known as Mitempfindung) is a phenomenon where scratching an itch on one part of the body produces an itching sensation on a different, apparently unrelated part of the body.

This is not a direct form of synesthesia, but some researchers feel that it may be related. It is not necessarily an itch, either, but just a touching of the stimulus creates a sensation of feeling in another part of the body. And yes, I have this, too. I didn’t even realize it was rare or unique until I was reading an article about it yesterday. I always just thought it was weird — but never ventured to ask anyone else if they experienced it too, because I didn’t want them to think I was crazy! Touching my fingers in a certain spot, for example, will induce a tickling sensation on my tongue, and it won’t stop until the stimulus is stopped. Similarly, it will also happen if you touch my arm or foot, I will feel it in a spot on my back.
For more information about mitempfindung, please go here: link.
For information about mitempfindung and how it relates to synesthesia, please go here: link.

I found an awesome battery of tests for syensthetes that was created by Dr. David Eagleman at Baylor. After taking these tests and answering questions about my synesthesia, it made me even more excited to research about it. It was really cool seeing all of my colors documented like that, and even more cool to get to actually visualize my spatial-sequence for the months of the year. If you’re a synesthete, you should check it out! http://www.synesthete.org

In my next blog post, I’ll tell you how I was able to hook up with Dr. Eagleman for some awesome research! :D