Psychology Facts

▼ Synesthesia ▼

》People with synesthesia experience a "blending" of their senses when they see, smell, taste, touch or hear. This blending can cause people to see sound, smell colors, or taste shapes.
The word means to blend the five senses. People with synesthesia (known as synesthetes), experience the world differently – to put it simply, think of it like crossed wires in their brains – their senses are hooked up to each other in weird ways where one sensory source produces another result – such as tasting sounds or hearing colours.

》Most people with synesthesia claim that they've had it all their lives. On the other hand, some people suddenly acquire synesthesia due to certain circumstances. Tumors, head injuries, and strokes may suddenly induce a state of synesthesia known as acquired synesthesia.

》Certain psychedelic drugs like LSD have also been known to induce a synesthesia-like effect for a short amount of time.

》Researchers  that up to 4% of the population has some type of synesthesia.

》There are over 80 different kinds. But the most  acknowledged types are:

Grapheme–color synesthesia
or colored grapheme synesthesia is a form of synesthesia in which an individual's perception of numerals and letters is associated with the experience of colors.

Ordinal-linguistic personification
is the automatic attributing of specific personalities / genders to members of an ordinal list, such as the letters of the alphabet, numbers between 1 and 10, or names of the 12 months.

Chromesthesia
or sound-to-color synesthesia is a type of synesthesia in which sound involuntarily evokes an experience of color, shape, and movement. Individuals with sound-color synesthesia are consciously aware of their synesthetic color associations/perceptions in daily life.

Spatial-sequence synethesia (SSS)
is a relatively common form of the condition, in which people automatically assign spatial locations to items in a sequence, such as letters of the alphabet. People with SSS will therefore feel items on a list occupy specific spatial locations, or locations in the mind's eye. (Like seeing the months of the year in a circle)

Mirror-Touch Synesthesia
a condition that causes a person to feel a sensation of touch when they see someone else being touched.

Auditory-tactile synesthesia
Hearing sounds leads to specific sensations in parts of the body. It's as if you're being touched, but nothing is touching you. For example, hearing heavy metal music might feel like pins and needles on your legs.

Lexical–gustatory synesthesia
is a rare form of synesthesia in which spoken and written language (as well as some colors and emotions) causes individuals to experience an automatic and highly consistent taste/smell. The taste is often experienced as a complex mixture of both temperature and texture.

》Most people who have grown up with synesthesia assume everyone can do what they do, and are surprised to learn that they see the world differently than most.
This can make the condition hard to diagnose, and also hard to get an exact estimate on how common it really might be.

》Researchers actually believe that most babies are born with synesthesia, but the vast majority of the population outgrows the ability as they age.

》Ideasthesia is kind of an off-shoot of synesthesia. Synesthesia is when a sensory experience is associated with another sense. For example when you hear music, you see a colour. Ideasthesia is when a concept, like a letter or number, which aren't 'real' things but abstract concepts, triggers a sensory experience, like seeing a certain colour. (Associating numbers with colors or other things with colors isn't necessarily considered synesthesia.)

》Synesthesia can run in families, so if your parent has it, you might have it too. Close to 40% of synesthetes have a close relative who also has the neurological condition.

》Studies have found a certain gene on chromosome 16 that causes the grapheme-color synesthesia, but its causes remain a mystery.

》Researchers still can't predict exactly who will end up with synesthesia. It's far from an exact science, but some have shown that women are more likely to have synesthesia than men.

》In the US, studies have shown that women are three times more likely to have it, while in the UK, similar studies have shown women are eight times more likely to have synesthesia.

》When a synesthete comes down with a cold, flu or something like an ear infection, being sick can affect how they experience their condition – either strengthening or weakening it, or it just is out of whack and not 'right'. For example, a sound-colour synesthete with a blocked ear will not only lose their hearing but the colours they usually experience will be different.

》Synesthesia remains an area of active research, because of both its own uncomprehended nature and its neurophysiological similarity to more detrimental conditions, such as autism and schizophrenia.

》Celebs with synesthesia

Pharrell Williams

Claude Monet

Billie Eilish

Kanye West

Vincent Van Gogh

Charlie XCX

Billy Joel

Mary J. Blige

Lorde