Do You Hear in Color?! Explaining Synesthesia | Mayim Bialik feat. LifeNoggin

[@MayimBialik]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@willemvandebeek]

Yes, I enjoyed it very much; more please! :)

[@santiagobenitezbuitrago3258]

I sure did! I am a synesthete myself!

[@hotdrippyglass]

Grok /ˈɡrɒk/ is a word coined by American writer Robert A. Heinlein for his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land. From Google; verb US informal verb: grok; understand (something) intuitively or by empathy."because of all the commercials, children grok things immediately", empathize or communicate sympathetically; establish a rapport.

[@nicolett884]

Mayim Bialik You are AWESOME and one of my biggest inspirations !! I love how much of a "nerd" you are and that we the "nerd" girls can look up to you and see that if others like us have succeeded so can we !!

[@jennyjiang1086]

I am doing a lecture recital on the connection between sound and color, for my doctorate study, exploring how musicians can hear color and how painters hear color! It can related to keys, or chords or intervals for musicians! Synesthesia is definitely one keyword of my writing. Glad to hear you talk about it! Thank you!

[@lifenoggin]

Thanks for having me on your channel!!!!

[@shynervousblob2529]

Life Noggin hi

[@roinymphornithorynque3282]

hey you

[@YorkshireMemes]

Life Noggin I thought I recognised the animation in this video

[@tusheyy6033]

you

[@carahamelie]

great video. I have this. My days of the week and months of the year are colors. and its all automatic. I don't think of the colors purposely... Monday is just red. They show in my brain together.

[@silverfox9648]

Carah Amelie what do you see in 7? :)

[@wilsprax5863]

Yes! Monday IS red! I have the same, and for me, monday is red, tuesday is yellow, wednesday is green, etc. etc. It's so funny how my brain just automatically makes me associate things with a certain colour.

[@keirtaylor4669]

Carah Amelie I have this but with all words and numbers

[@HardlyNormal12]

Carah Amelie for me Monday is yellow, Tuesday is lime green, Wednesday is dark green, Thursday is brown, Friday is black, Saturday is a sort of bright shiny white, and Sunday is light blue. This is all in my head, I don't actually see the colours I just know that's what they are.

[@ZealeProductions]

I have the same thing. I don't associate with numbers but days of the week and months all have their own color. For example, January is white. Feb. is red. March is green. April is a combo of blue and green, June is yellow, July is Orange, August is brown and yellow. Sept..red. Oct...orange. November is brown and December is grey/white. There's more but I won't go into it all. It would take ages. :)

[@scattysafari7742]

It's so wonderful to see a brilliantly intelligent woman speak with such passion about amazing subjects. Thank you Mayim for being a great role model for young women and girls.

[@SidneyBloom]

I also have this. Until my late 20's I thought it was how everybody perceived the world. But I read about it online and was so shocked! I see colors with numbers and days of the week, and colors, shapes and patterns when listening to music or thinking about someone. And the main reason I find maths to be hard, despite being good at it, is because the patterns and colours I perceive when looking at equations interfere with their actual meaning.

[@apriltatum5543]

My favorite video yet! My son hears music in color. Always has. I didn’t know there was such a thing until one of his music teachers in college told him all about it. He was quite excited it had a name 😂. It must be amazing for him, he is a wonderful musician and composer, so to blend that music with color has to be out of this world ❤️❤️😘

[@beatrizviacava-goulet7640]

check Sharry Edwards nano voice bioacoustics hope he heals worldwide!!! 🗝🗣✌🏼🎶🧩🌎❣️

[@beatrizviacava-goulet7640]

was hoping for a link to his music...✌🏼🌎🎶🗣🗝

[@catherinereusssigler8062]

Thank you for doing this video. I am an artist and dyslexic. When I was being taught violin I memorized music by assigning colors to notes and chords. Here I've just thought all these years I was broken. Now I have an amazing way to explain it to people. ❤️🎨

[@satansdayoff]

My husband has synesthesia, and I'm the only person he's met that has constant changing colors. I guess it was meant to be!

[@lilycaitlin]

This is so sweet!

[@jennieluft8746]

Mayiam, I watched this and the ADHD video you linked. I think the brain is amazing as well. As a spiritual person, which I know you are as well, I wonder what your thoughts are about the following. In Genesis Adam and Eve who were perfect, were cast out of the garden of Eden for their disobedience and lack of trust in God. Since they no longer had Gods protection nor access to the tree of life they began to die. And hence we have all inherited their sin and die. I believe the further (years) we get away from Eden the more we deteriorate and have more problems health wise, including different issues with the brain. Your thoughts as a spiritual person and scientific person please. TIA

[@fraserdunn8563]

​@@jennieluft8746Hello. I find your post most interesting. Please take a look at our Christadelphian church. You might find something of interest.

[@amyrosner2430]

Mayim, watching you geek out on brain function is pure enjoyment! Your passion and enthusiasm are contagious - and I even learned something new

[@GKOALA7]

I see songs in colors, not the titles but the actual songs. Example. "Careless Whisper" by George Michael is a honey mahogany color in my mind. The cover version of this song by Seether is a grey tinted with a touch of beige color in my brain. Now, "Outside" by Stains is a dark greyish teal color. I never knew that this was a thing until I saw something about it online somewhere, so I actually started feeling, ironically, unique because I thought this was a normal thing for everybody.

[@wilsprax5863]

I have Synesthesia, and I'm very fascinated by it. All my measurements of time have a colour. That, as well as numbers, animals, and certain types of nouns. (one-thousand for example, is clearly red to me, while one-hundred is blue).

[@archangelus2008]

A friend of mine has synesthesia and she can actually "see" the colour of your voice, that is so cool!!! I remember that, when I was younger, all vowels and numbers from 0 to 9 had their own colour. It's not like I really saw them written in thar colour, they just were very strongly asiciated with their colours and whenever I had to draw them I would always choose the same colours, haha. Sorry about my English ^^'. Greetings from Spain ;)

[@iexist1738]

To me, her voice sounds yellow.

[@auntiesash]

When I'm shopping for clothing, I often will see a color/texture that is appealing but, when I touch it, the sound of the fabric doesn't match the taste of the color/texture. It makes me queasy. I learned to stop saying sentences like that out loud when I was about 7 or 8.

[@wiktoriakusak3280]

It’s so impossible for me to even imagine. But I get that it can be hard for you to just shop ... it’s amazing and frightening at the same time. It’s a shame that you needed to hide your •ability • at such a young age

[@BarbaraAlvarezSolanilla]

Do not stop being who you are! You could become the coolest designer by identifying how fabrics go or not together ;)

[@va4lent]

Love this video! When I first learned about synesthesia I was pretty young, and it's what lead me to studying neuropsychology !

[@snailfren]

It's cool that you collabed with lifenoggin! I love their channel and you as a block character is infinitely adorable.

[@joedairy6164]

Thank God for the few neuroscience classes I had, I can understand a bunch of what you say, but I am also thankful there are people like you who can explain it all in scientific and laymens terms as well to ensure the understanding. You are great at this!

[@LodiJP]

I enjoyed this a lot: as I have colour-taste synesthesia. It does more harm than good for me though.. if I don't like both the taste AND the colour of a food, I don't like eating it..

[@ayengutierrez592]

Omg SO THAT'S WHAT IT'S CALLED!!! I swear, ever since I was a kid, I kept wondering what this "thing" was. I kept associating letters & numbers with colors and my cousins thin I was weird because I had this complicated thinking. 😂 Thanks for this!! ❤️

[@ArantxaTarrero]

I HAD NO IDEA ... THANKS !! You learn something new every day (we have an idiom in Spanish for this. en español: "nunca te acostarás sin saber una cosa más")

[@LetsDoBetterNow]

I am always amazed at how awesome the brain is!

[@VixenVaudevillain]

I recently learned I have this and it is really wonderful! I love this part of myself and as I embrace it i find more things it effects!

[@mowequa]

Hi Mayim, I am a Synesthete, and your description and illustrations are spot on, and I hope it can help folks without Synesthesia - understand it more. I believe that my Synesthesia has been a factor in helping my brain work creatively to form new pathways and ways of being, around my traumatic brain injury. Synesthesia is associated with my earliest memories - it's been a lifelong thing.

[@SueDNim]

I didn't realize until I was grown that synesthesia had name, or that anybody else had it. I've read that in some circles, synesthesia is classed as a mental illness. I find it fascinating and I'm extremely glad I'm "afflicted" with it. I only wish that I could experience some of the manifestations that some other people have that I don't.

[@almalovebooks7338]

I read a book about a synesthete, it's called a mango shaped space. It was such an eye opening book.

[@jeepguy77]

You are very good at breaking complicated things down to make them much easier to understand in a way that is helpful and not condescending at all. Thank you! When I hear the word "blossom" I always think of a big sunflower on a hat.

[@mariaalvarez884]

Mayim me encanta tu canal! Enhorabuena por la iniciativa! Me encantaría recomendarte más a menudo. Has pensado en introducir subtítulos en otros idiomas? Nos facilitaría entenderte y te seguiría mucha más gente! Acercarías tu forma de explicar ciencia a muchas más personas!

[@rgbcn]

YES MAYIM YES! Love this video. Finally. Amazing topic AND yes yes yes to the edit and design of the complementary animation. YES loved it so much. More of that. more more.

[@katrinaoliver4167]

Love this, Mayim! Thank you for sharing this. Growing up, my siblings and I would entertain ourselves on road trips with questions like "what color is R?" And "is 9 a boy or girl?". We had long debates about how we perceived the world, because we all thought this was normal. So did my father, as he saw the world the same way. My mother did not, and we actually thought something was wrong with her. 😂 Imagine her joy decades later when she heard of synesthesia years later on a ted talk. My first children, two boys, are due in two months, and it will be interesting to see someday if they inherit this trait or not.

[@JamieBettison]

Thanks for this @mayim Bialik ! I have Synesthesia, but a mild version. I discovered this whilst as a child trying to fall asleep, my old cathode-raytube TV set was cooling down and the subsequent cooling made a loud cracking/popping sound that I perceived as different intensities of white light in various shapes and sizes. I only realised it was synesthesia as an adult when I researched "why do I see white lights when i hear loud noises" LOL - the joy of the internet!

[@janicekrol8320]

Yes! I have this!!! When someone says a name of a person, street, store....I see the color it should represent! I find it comforting 😌 Love the animation!

[@heatherkeenum6833]

It was very cool to learn that this comes from the same part of the brain as dyslexia. My oldest daughter struggles with dyslexia while my middle daughter has synesthesia. Thanks for the info! In your study of synesthetes have you ever seen compiled data that shows that a large percentage of these people see identical colors for the same numbers, words, and objects or is it purely personal?

[@alonsovalenzuelaking9208]

I don't think i've ever seen Mayim so excited on a video! Loved the topic and the video. Thanks!

[@RuRuWebby]

Agh I love learning about synaesthesia! For as long as I can remember numbers, letters and words (especially proper nouns) have had very specific colours! I remember when I was learning to read etc the colours would be apparent all the time but I always thought it was something everyone experienced. Now that I'm older I don't usually notice the colours of words etc as much but they're definitely still there! When I think about the days of the week and months of the year they also have physical positions in space in relation to each other, which I've heard is linked to synaesthesia too!

[@LadyCynthiana]

Yes, I have the number and letter color synesthesia, and I also have that physical positioning of months, years, letters and numbers in space. For example, my January-May are lined up horizontally from left to right, then June-November are lined up vertically beneath May, and then December is to the right of November, with January following again beneath.

[@ClaireCopeland-n6y]

Yes me too. Months of year in a square with summer at top and winter bottom. Fall goes down a d Spring climbs up toward summer

[@tessadunkle1831]

Educational and fun! You are a wonderful teacher! Thank you 💜

[@PerlitasMD]

I always find your videos interesting. People usually tend to say the bad things. I think it's important to tell people when we think they are doing something nice/good/inspiring... so keep doing what you're doing. As a female in science (MS in civil engineering) I appreciate the work you do to stand out as a female scientist. Love from Spain.

[@LittleTipsyPanda]

I love the variety of content on this channel! From cats to Passover to road trips to science

[@JuliaNineteenEighty-Four]

Thank you for this video! I have synesthesia. I taste words, voices and sounds since I was a child. Until a couple of years ago I didn't know the name of it and I never told anyone (just an ex boyfriend) cause I thought people would consider me weird. But I've always wanted to know if tasting words was normal. I tried look for answers, but at one point I just dropped it cause I thought it was not essential. Then, by pure coincidence, I learnt what it was. I didn't feel weird anymore, I felt excited! So I started telling some people I had it, but sadly some of them were really mean. They said (and say) that I (or we synesthetes) make this up to feel special, to draw attention, that it doesn't exist, it's bs. I usually feel bad cause I know it's not like that, I'm not a liar but I can't really prove that 'Mayim' tastes like plain yogurt to me. That's the thing, I can't prove it, so technically I can tell people a bunch of bs. So I stopped. I think synesthesia is amazing and a life without it would be just boring :)

[@MdSiddik-wt2bm]

English xnxx vidoes

[@yyoginiy4755]

We Asians like to snack on different tasting food all the time. Does it feel like you are always snacking too? If you are eating something while listening to music, does the taste of music interfere with the taste of your food (in terms of compatibility)?

[@Simone-mh4mj]

Me too! Glad to see someone with the same experience. I actually sometimes repeat a word in my head that tastes like the food I'm eating. I think it's weird but interesting. Kinda embarrassing tho

[@JuliaNineteenEighty-Four]

@@yyoginiy4755 I only saw this now cause KZbin never bothered to send me a notification 😂 3 years later, but better late than never, they say! As for your question, no, the sound/taste of music doesn’t interfere as I usually eat in silence 😆 BUT it does make me crave for the food I’m listening! Even if I’ve just finished to eat…

[@ambercelt]

I have this, and so does my youngest daughter. We've always thought it was pretty cool. :)

[@patriciaquilichini9374]

I am amazed how you talked about synesthesia, because when i tell people I have it by experiencing the colors grey and purple with the sounds of cords like violin or harp see me as nut case, so I seldom talk about it. I remember when i was very young I tell my mom that sounds pretty and she corrects me and say that looks pretty, I got confused. I am grateful that you brought this up.

[@darrellestes4341]

I DO actually hear in color. I am a French lecturer at a large midwestern university, and I speak six different languages, and I see the same colors with each word in corresponding languages. I wonder if these makes language acquisition easier for me?

[@alixnorman7389]

Darrell Estes Yes! I'm a synaesthete and a writer, and I wrote about exactly this! (alixnorman.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/tuesday-is-ice-blue-the-secrets-of-synaesthesia/)

[@darrellestes4341]

Alix Norman Thanks! I'm looking forward to reading it.

[@doris1826]

Nice clear explanation of a phenomena that few people have even heard of, much less, understand. Loved the video. Thank you!

[@kkg75]

This exact topic is covered in a small text in my students' grammar & vocabulary book( I'm an EFL teacher). This is perfect for me to show them before we actually work the text! Thank you.

[@JanaMHoffman]

I experience pain as having colors and textures. Like, right now, my shoulder spasm is a bright fuschia and soft and fuzzy. Not fuzzy in a good way, that's just the color of it... Having chronic pain gives me lots of chances to explore this phenomenon. I always took it for granted in a way, until I described it to my husband and he just didn't understand... Brains are amazing!

[@GKOALA7]

Jana Hoffman Until I just now read your comment I was never conscious of the fact that I do that too. I have another kind of sinesthesia where I see the color of individual songs in my mind. That one I've been conscious of it, but the pain one that you just mentioned never registered as a "thing" to me. For some reason your comment made something just click for me. Thank you for sharing. Next time I experience pain I'll pay more attention to the color in my mind. Maybe that will distract me from the actual pain. 😊

[@barbrarosebarbrarose]

Jana, my pain has color and shape! I’ve never known anyone else to experience pain as having color. I told my doctor and thankfully he didn’t think I was crazy. So cool that you do too!!

[@lululovesyou7618]

I want to thank you for taking the time to make videos- so thanks! My oldest son has this - it is so fascinating. He says we all have certain colors to him- as do objects and emotions.

[@rgbcn]

Explanations with animation for next videos will be really cool, if you don't team up again with them, do your own team with groknation. But this is the kind of content I personally like. And with this kind of format. if you evolve this to your own type of format will be amazing. yes to all.

[@ClipsByLaura]

Yes, neuroscience is fascinating! I recently had a discussion with a PhD student in neuroscience about prejudice. I study Gender Studies, so our fields combined have some amazing possibilities for discussion :)

[@elisabeccaro9035]

I don't know if anyone's already written this, but synesthesia is also a rhetoric figure used in poetry... when you mix sensations and perceptions... like a sounding color... amazing!

[@Jessar16]

Thank you for making this video, it's the most succinct and clearly communicated explanation I've found. You are a beautiful woman and a beautiful mind, and are very much appreciated in this World. Thanks again

[@Marinemyt1]

I ❤ this video so much!! I am one of the many who have Synesthesia- actually many forms of it. Your descriptions are wonderful here, and I really appreciate that you mixed anecdotal with scientific info. I didn't know that there was a term for what I've had always. I just thought everyone experienced the world the same way I do! I am very happy with the forms of Synesthesia that I have. Most of us are, although there are some forms that are difficult for people.

[@maxkalbach2438]

Thank you so much! I know two people with synesthesia. My mother associates taste and touch with color, and a good friend of mine associates shape with color (meaning he doesn't perceive color the way we do at ALL.) I think it's a fascinating concept and it's cool to see someone talk about it.

[@sarkaturnerova7939]

Omg, maybe I like biology after all :D you got me so excited to learn more about the brain now! Growing up with synesthesia, I always thought I was just weird. There was nobody I knew that would experience it. Nowadays, thanks to the internet, I know there's people like me. Now I'm super thankfull to be able to experience the world in such a way :)

[@BonzoKilbourn]

I love that you are so excited about the brain and you get to fully express that excitement. Happiness is contagious. Can you do a video on why happiness is contagious?

[@naboo144]

Wow!! I almost couldn't see your video because the light shining from your eyes was almost blinding! No doubt you love this stuff!! I love it too, thanks for sharing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@AbiTheActress]

I studied psychology at university so was a control in many synesthesia studies, I definitely don't have it! One of my best friends is a pianist and a painter and every musical note has a colour to him, even people's voices have a colour! I find it so interesting!

[@katwatson007]

I experience synesthesia! I used to think everyone did when I was young. I try and use it to my advantage to how I learn/remember/process things. As a musician, I often 'see' the music, which is a very amazing experience. I am attracted to vibrant colours, as well as people with vibrant personalities. I associate most strongly colours to sound, words, personalities, and moods. I'm an extremely visual learner. (I also 'hear' things I see). Sometimes, I can get overwhelmed by things that are too visually stimulating, or if there's too much going on at the same time. For example, I space out and have a hard time processing things when I'm in Times Square. Thanks for the video!

[@albapg2163]

You are such an idol to me! I love this kind of science videos. I didn't know about this one but I freaked out when I studied prosopagnosia, it's so interesting!!

[@galafernandez311]

More videos like this!!!! Love learning about such interestinh stuff and how you explain it 💜🙌

[@orland0110]

Mayim, this is such a great and educational video, I really enjoyed it! Thank you so much for being such a wonderful actress and youtuber and for being my friend. You are one of the greatest friends I have!

[@Ozzy-and-Lucas]

Thank you. Until recently, I never discussed with anybody my particular perception of numbers and time, and then discovered this phenomenon and I that was not alone. Shapes, dimensions, colors, feelings, and other strange perceptions of time and numbers help me make calculations and organize ideas in my head. It felt weird that only I was doing it so felt embarrassed to even mention it.

[@paulinefollett3099]

A very interesting field of science. Thanks for the explanation.

[@mollyg6592]

Great video! Your videos on neuroscience and science in general and your science background were what inspired me to get into biology! Thanks Mayim!

[@carmalitastudios5128]

It's really cool to see more and more information coming out about synesthesia for the public to learn more. I have synesthesia. I see colors, shapes, and movements associated with what I hear (and sometimes colors are associated with what I see). For example, Mayim, your voice is a pale, almost robin's egg blue. And this video has downward wave-like movement to it overall. I am actually an artist and paint songs based on what I see. Thank you for sharing your knowledge on synesthesia!

[@samriedeman6791]

Grapheme-color Synesthete here. This was a really great video and you explained it really well. I liked learning more about the neurological part!

[@LadyCynthiana]

I have number/letter color synesthesia! You're right about it being highly predictable. I can narrow down exactly the shade of blue, for example, that the letter M is to me, and it hasn't changed throughout my whole life.

[@laviquema]

Great video! I have slight synesthesia and I love to know how it works. I'm a pianist and I can hear colors, but they only shine and are very clear when the sounds are perfectly tuned or at least very well related within them So when there's a performer, a choir or an orchestra performing with great tuning there's a whole firework show in my brain :D The brain is awesome, no one can deny that

[@tonymacintosh3744]

she is just lovely to watch, teach and listen to. thank you miss

[@angelasaulnier2628]

Love all the info you give out to us. But I must say this , I grew up watching Blossom. Loved Blossom and Six . That said when I watch these I sometimes think yeah Blossom would be like you are today , awesome. Thank you for being you! You’re an inspiration

[@scrappingandcrafting2229]

My wife has always told me that she sees music. I never understood what she was talking about until now. Thank you for explaining the process to me. I feel even closer to my wife now, if that was even possible.

[@cassandraelle9955]

Coming across this now and this is one of the main reasons why I wanted to study Neuroscience. I feel it's also common amongst those on the spectrum, which may explain the facial blindness relation. Words and sounds have smell/tastes, and I feel people's energies, like a modified mirror touch. Also, numbers have personalities. It's not always on for me.

[@janettruiz1574]

Muero por tener una profesora como tú, muero por que mi hija tenga una profesora como tú!!!! Lo explicas tan bien, tan digerible. Ven a México por faaaaaaaa!!!! 🙏🏼

[@TheKellz33]

I love that you've made this video Mayim, you've made me feel special :-)

[@codingwithkate3792]

The brain is amazing!!!! So glad you made this video!!!

[@family-peace-love]

brilliant. I have been battling chronic fatigue for many years and thats been linked to a nervous system dysfunction, i have alot of interest in the body functions as I need to be my own dr most of the time

[@dlaity107]

Love it! I'm a synesthete. Another example: For me, Thursday is green. I'm also dysphraxic. ...then just for the whole set, I got an ABI, so now I'm also Anosmic, partly deaf, have lost my periphoral vision, have sensory nerve issues, and weird memory things. IQ also dropped 46 points. ...Heck, if ever you want to do a study - come find me.

[@JohnJeffries-c2b]

My world is like fantasia, I get to see color when I hear music, songs, notes, sounds, then when I look at a painting I get to hear sounds, notes, tones. Isolating color and sound is a pain sometimes, but incredible. Plus I have identified several other things I get to see in my minds eye.

[@jackpullen3820]

I am so glad you are teaching Mayim, I am studying Brain, work by Rodger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff also Wai H. Tsang book, The Fractal Brain Theory. I overcame Dyslexia, rewiring neural pathways to use higher functioning spatial relations! Thank you and Bless you all!

[@SamwiseGamgee1966]

I have three kinds of synesthesia: grapheme-color, number form, and spatial-temporal. I did not discover that I had these associations until I was in high school, but I've never tried to hide it. I consider it a natural and fun part of who I am. I discovered a few years ago that both my daughters are synesthetes when we had an argument at the dinner table. My daughter was talking about a friend of hers, and I was confused as to who it was. When my daughter told me her name, I said casually, "Oh yeah, the purple one," referring to the color of her name. My daughter said, "Her name's not purple, it's bluish green," and my other daughter said, "Now it's not, it's yellow." Thanks Mayim!

[@charleslee8313]

Thank you! A character I'm working on has a father with Synesthesia. It's nice to know a more clinical aspect of what he's got.

[@Milkberry333]

I'm synesthetic and so are my siblings! We all have the same type of synesthesia too (which is pretty cool) and we all sat down and spoke about it one day when I realised that it wasn't normal to see words and numbers in "correct colours" and sounds with colours/feelings. So cool tbh :D

[@sandragreer7556]

Love love love your channel!! So refreshing to learn something meaningful!!

[@erikablue3099]

After writing this I realize it's way too long to expect anyone to read but it's done now and I can't bring myself to delete it. Wordiness FTW! So cool, I haven't thought about synesthesia in years. If you get a chance to read this I wonder if you might settle a 15 year old debate I had with my high school geometry teacher over whether I am a synesthete or not. She was convinced I was a synesthete after my description of how I picture a number line (in color because colors are fun?) when I'm doing basic arithmetic in my head. After doing some research I don't believe I am, but found synesthesia so interesting that I ended up doing my senior project on it in high school. I find it hard to believe that I'm as unique in my visualizations as this teacher thought I was. I think I just happened to put into words for her something that a lot of people probably do without realizing it in their imaginations. When I 'see' this number line, yes they are in color, but only in my mind's eye. I don't see letters and numbers in color when they are printed in black and white. In that case, they are just in black and white to me. As far as I'm concerned, what I do is really no different from working out a math problem on paper except the paper is in my head and I'm just visualizing it to help me keep track of the numbers. I do the same with the letters if I'm, say, alphabetizing and have to keep track of letters or with days of the week or months if I'm calculating something relating to that. From my understanding most synesthetes insist that a particular letter or number is a certain color. In MY imaginary number line a particular number might often be a particular color, but it is actually hard for me to say because it's a visualization that seems to happen subconsciously. I'm not 'trying' to visualize the numbers. I just do, much in the way I would automatically visualize the story playing out in front of me while reading a novel. As automatic as it might be, it's still clear to me that it's imaginary. I'm not physically seeing anything. These visualizations are a bit like a dream, in that it's difficult for me to describe what they look like because they feel very far away to me since I don't consciously make it happen. I think the part that really threw her off and made her insist I was a synesthete is that I am very adamant about the SHAPE of this imaginary number line. I say adamant, but again, it feels far away from me like a dream so sometimes I guess the patterns and shapes shift a bit. It seems that I always picture numbers 1-10 going up in a line, then the teens going to the right from there, and then 20-100 in a grid with each set of 10s going down in a line. *I* believe my brain probably did this because that's how I learned the numbers. I would have learned to count to 10 first, and then the teens, and then I would have learned the process of counting 20-100 as a block. So that's how my brain remembers it and pictures it. Same with the colors. Whatever episode of Sesame Street I learned the number 7 from probably had a big graphic of the number 7 in green, so I often picture it in green, but it could be other colors. My imaginary alphabet is also in a pattern. I almost always visualize A,B and C as a group, then D-P as a group, Q-W in a group and then XYZ in a group. Again, I just assume my young mind learned the alphabet in these segments and therefore can't help but picture it this way, but maybe there's more to it than that? Maybe my imaginary visual aids are not as common as I assume they are? This teacher sure seemed to think it was unique but I can't fathom how visually inclined people keep track of things like numbers without picturing them in their head. This has got to be common, right?

[@wylldflower5628]

I had to laugh at the Sesame Street part. I hardly saw Sesame Street till the 1980 when I had kids but if i have to count to 10 or 12 I cannot stop that counting song with the time changes in it!! Once it starts, even if I don’t sing it out loud it’s going to continue in my head, complete with all the mental pinballs!!

[@Alyssa-cn6so]

I thought EVERYONE heard music in screaming colors. I always get so happy on the rare occasions that a music video has the right color scheme.

[@LESBIANANDAUTISTIC]

I hear music in color, but in the resonant timbre of a pipe organ or the cute squeal of a wind instrument, not screaming. Glinty, shiny objects squeal "Aia! Oio!" at me. The three-note musical phrase that goes with the squeal of glinty objects is E-F-E. Gothic and Tudor architecture "sing" the three-note musical phrase F-E-D. Winding roads and footpaths "sing" the three-note musical phrase D-C-D. Each key signature has a color, and I only like the earth-toned key signatures: F major, G major, D major, A major, and their corresponding minor keys . The key of B-flat is vastness (high ceilings and outdoor spaces with few or no trees), and that scares me. Trees (keys of F, G, D, and A) protect me from the big scary B-flat vastness of the sky. Vastness makes me dizzy.

[@phoenixrichter1397]

This is awesome. I know personally I dream in spatial references. And I do have color references to numbers and words. But I love hearing the science behind it!!

[@katrin896]

I'm one of the four percent. I see numbers and names in colors, and I see numbers, years, months and days in a certain shape. As a kid I thought everyone was like this. After I found out that this was something different, I wanted to learn more. I've never used the term "suffer from" or "the thing that is wrong with me is..." because I don't see it that way. I love being different in that way, and I usually just say that I see the world in brighter colors and that gives me joy and happiness :)

[@waddles56]

I enjoy all of your videos. You are ebullient (a word that was deep in the recesses of my brain and somehow surfaced when I watch you.) Keep 'em coming!!!

[@dianabrownmillerorme7656]

This is really interesting. For me it’s numbers that have colours, and it’s not consistent either. If the number is single or in a series like a zip code or phone number it varies. Growing up I never thought anything of it. I didn’t realise it was a “thing” until my eye doctor brought it up a few years ago. Thanks Mayim!

[@downthemiddle3905]

Great video! Mayim, you are amazing!

[@rosiemc85]

I loved this Mayim. You explain things so well and what an interesting topic!

[@bengi4509]

When you're waiting new season of tbbt and you see this channel THANKS GOD

[@kimwilson1548]

I watch you on you tube all the times I enjoy listening to you

[@lucinda2329]

I love the passion you have for science.

[@kathrynpasteur8131]

I'd love to see you do something on Oppositional Defiance Disorder. I love your videos! You are an amazing woman! Thank you!

[@abderrahmanatef8456]

Thank you Mayim, I have that and up until now I didn't know what is that, now I have an explanation, and for me it's the sound SH always comes with the color black

[@emilywhiteee97]

I knew this was called synesthesia but it's so cool to learn why I associate letters and numbers with colours. It doesn't happen so much with reading but hearing words said aloud and peoples voices have different colours too, but not quite so strongly

[@rempanda]

Well this video would of been handy 6 months ago when I started researching for a paper on synethesia. It is incredibly interesting, I loved researching it

[@TheT3rr0rMask]

When you showed 9 and turtle I associated yellow and green before you used those colors as an example.... I only learned what Synesthesia was about a year ago and it explained all my phenomenons, things I thought made me weird. I was put into special ed from a young age, the school and psychologists never coming to a common diagnosis, most labeling me as autistic. Was able to convince the system to let me out of special ed in high school and just finished college. Learning about synesthesia proved to me that I never had a mental disability but was just misunderstood by a flawed mainstream system that loves its numbers. It also made sense to me as to why I struggled in math but excelled in English and art.

[@SkylerAdriel]

I have synesthesia--I associate anything that can be written--words, names, letter, and numbers with colors. I know for a fact that for me personally, this is from having a strong sense memory as a child so anytime I learned something such as the letters of the alphabet I also learned the colors of the magnetic letters I used that facilitated me learning those letters.

[@northernlad52]

i have synaesthesia i see colours when i hear sounds... a good thing as ive played guitar for 50 years ... i thought everyone could see sounds... but i can.. its amazing... glad im not weird xxx

[@mellbovgirl]

Oh my God, I always associate certain things with color and forns, for me the number 4 is blue, 5 is pink, 2 is yellow and so on. I thought everyone was like that, then one day I discovered that I did not and I started thinking it was a perfectionist mania of mine because I'm a designer then ... LOVE IT! Thank you mayim ❤

[@Avabliss]

I have synesthesia too! I have a few different forms of it. I associate colour with numbers, letters and sometimes experiences. I also have spatial synesthesia - which I view more as a super power than anything! I literally "see" time. I also suffer from misophonia, which is different but related. From what I know it is not well understood but I suffer from intense reactions to certain sounds. It is a pain in the ass and for many years controlled what I did and where I went. So fun to learn more about it all!