Synesthesia: A film by Jonathan Fowler

[@colourcode11]

When volunteering with people with special needs a number of years ago, I came to the realisation that our behaviours and perceptions are along a scale. When watching your video on syneshesia, I was encouraged to continue with my work on using colour as one of my coaching motivational tools.

[@squanto2]

I don't believe one can really appreciate music without "seeing" the colors and textures built-in to the sounds.

[@KennJamisonJrS3NS0RYSTR33T]

My name is Kenneth Errol Jamison Jr. and I am a synesthete. I'm going on 47 years with the condition and I am CONVINCED that I know EXACTLY what is happening that separates sane folk from the InSaNe ones and the solution is so flippin' SIMPLE it's no WONDER nobody's paying attention: Synesthesia is how the human brain communicates with itself when people are SLEEPING. When people are AWAKE, their senses operate on five SEPARATE channels, i.e.: One Sees with ones eyes, one Hears with ones ears, one Tastes with ones tongue, one Smells with ones nose and one Feels what one touches. Yet, when we are ASLEEP, all of our senses are mingled together in the Dream State. Now, imagine what it might be like to wake up from an intense dream and, instead of having it fade away into forgetfulness, like it usually does... you continue seeing the shape of the sounds you hear and tasting the way it feels to touch things! Or, like I do, it's a never ending rainbow of SOUND bouncing 'ROUND me, EVERYWHERE I SEE! All because I can DR34M while I'm AWAKE! Get it?

[@mosiacsoml]

I don't have synesthesia but when you were talking about waking up from a dream, I had one where there was fire and when I woke up I was sweating and heavily breathing. That probably isn't synesthesia since I wasn't actually seeing fire while awake.

[@usecori]

I'm not synaesthetic, but once under nitrous oxide at the dentist, it happened to me.. I could "see" music. It was an unbelievable experience.

[@Buggy793]

I've got 7 forms of this and some concept->color. touch->sound sound->touch (2 forms of this) numbers->colors mathematical concepts and shapes->colors seeing motion->sound numbers->personalities Fireworks are absolutely amazing with these! :D

[@JuliaDugger]

I love this! I have 1. Letters/some numbers--color 2. SOME Letters--personality 3. Music--Color (It's a combination of notes and instruments...one instrument playing 2 different notes will be different shades, sometimes different colors altogether, and 2 instruments playing the same note will be different...this is probably my strongest form of synesthesia.

[@nafeNafen]

Synesthesia is a lot more common than people think, a lot of people just think it's completely normal. the first time I found something odd about perceiving music, numbers, months, days, names as colors was when i was around 7 or 8. it wasn't until a month (i'm 17 now) ago while i was reading into hallucinogens that i realized i had this condition. it's like blinking and breathing; there's nothing to it. but it's really awesome how it works!

[@gilletteTBAMCG]

Love this video! Synesthesia is NOT a disease, it's just how we perceive reality. It's like some people who never know they're colour blind until they do one of those dot tests and can't see the number amidst the dots. The brain is a fascinating thing.

[@jonfofofo]

Both spellings are correct. 'Synaesthesia' tends to be found more in British-based literature/research, while "Synesthesia" is more common in American English.

[@UpAndLeave]

see, I don't know if I have it or not, but if you say a word, it has colors with colors sprinkled in. Like the word pickle isn't green, it's orange with a yellow and purple zigzag.

[@jessekirkorian7417]

Iv'e had synesthesia as long as I can remmber. I'm a musician and muralist. Thank you for this doc. Im learning more every day and this helps.

[@1xDRCx]

this is the reason for perfect pitch. so, people who have perfect pitch actualy have synesthesia and hear colors, they can tell what a note is by memorizing the color and the octave it's in by the shade of that color.

[@apoetic]

Thank you johnathan for presenting this concept. I have not been doing so well with synesthesia, it seem like people are precieving me as awkard, and that is very disconcerting for me because they are reacting to my outside. and pray tell i try to explain this to them...it is fricking hard.

[@1ForzaItalia]

I met David Eagleman!! Such a cool guy!

[@Jeffieboi]

@dessacorn I have a similar type 1) Letters and numbers ALL have very distinctive colors for me 2) I can't say any of them have personalities 3) Songs have a color for me as well, however, a lot of the time....the color of the song is determined by the letters in the title

[@sallydboy]

i am a multi-instrumentalist and when i listen or play music i can see it as a line that will change based on the scale ("mood") of the song like A Minor is a light blue which i associate with sadness and E Phrygian is a yellow-ish color that has no real mood association but it does make me feel badass lol and that line is almost always present when music is playing it kind of goes up and down only as if it were on a piece of paper and if i hum a tune ive been told baisically my head follows it

[@alphaanimator]

I have a rare kind I see emotion and can feel it from others it causes a trance in me I feel inference from images in otherwords, I feel visual stimuli. I feel color, and animation. I am a master hypnotist and I believe my ability as ana animator and fine artist has linked it's self to all these skills. I believe I always had it.

[@TheeFinalSolution]

According to KZbin comments, on synesthesia videos, 9/10 people have synesthesia, on videos of homosapien height, the average height is 6'2 for a 12 year old and around 6'7 for a teenager or so.

[@orionatlantai3944]

I think I am rediscovering my synesthesim. I believe my type is seeing sounds. For example, the sound of the letter A is not actually the symbol associated with it. It is actually a picture of an apple. So when I read and I come across the letter a, it is not A that is being processed. Sure, I am visually acknowledging its shape and structure, but cognitively it is being processed as the simple image of an apple I sketched. My visual representation of the sounds of letters are pretty simple too. They almost look like cave man drawings.

[@kingklabe]

I have Synaesthesia! I see days and months as colours. Numbers are pictures. Music makes very abstract robotic animation in my minds eye. =)

[@sgtmcwallace]

this is great work

[@sudomakemeafez]

I agree on the color but I'll have to take your word for it on the apricot jam thing.

[@drewweinbergermusic]

just recently discovered I had this. Days of the week have been certain colors since I was very little. I never knew this was abnormal. Numbers and letters too. A=Blue B=Purple C=Green D=Red E=Yellow=Thursday G=Orange=Friday

[@emilyroberts3832]

Actually, jip laan is right, Monday is blue :) it's a sort of pale sky blue, darker than the number 1 but lighter than the letter B. The lady in the video was right when she said Tuesday was orange.

[@fragglesful]

very informative and fun. thank you!

[@jacksonshredder123]

i have only discovered that there is such a thing, i thought it was normal to remember numbers and objects in colors. i am a guitarist, when ever i play a chord i always see a color and a picture. a, minor 7 for example makes me think of a dark red ish brown color along with of sunsets and beaches.

[@Moocow515]

@Moocow515 to see some colors, I still feel pain as yellow (sharp pains) or red (excruciating). I remember as a boy I got cut above the eyebrow all the way to my skull by the edge of a table. I went to the ER extremely calm, I felt no pain. When they asked what was going on I was just going on about how I don't like my head feeling red. The worst smell for me is black.

[@neerduh]

@kingklabe what do you mean you see abstract robotic animation? i'm curious because i kinda do the same thing but i wasnt sure if it was connected to synaesthesia. is there a category for it?

[@FanOfAwesomeness]

I thought everyone did that. I always though Monday was red, Tuesday was yellow, 3 is pink, 8 is red, 9 is brown-green. But I don't think I'm a synesthete. Its not instantaneous.

[@thebigbang100]

Monday - bright yellow Tuesday - green Wednesdag - brown Thursday - dark blue Friday - orange Saturday - gray Sunday - yellow

[@stopyourswearing]

I was really tired once and I opened a fizzy bottle and I saw whiteish-grey. It was so cool!

[@BatterySphere]

@jLantxa This actually may be very related because I grew up in Texas, and most things were in spanish as well as english, and in elementary school they made us learn Spanish.

[@jacksmith-xz5fn]

i love having this it is so amazing. i don't imagine how others can live

[@5partanzm1lk]

I looked at the comments while waiting for the video to load, and the first thing I see is "Monday is red."

[@SomethingInAPurpleHatLalalala]

well, to me a is also red, and n is usually orange and green and yellow (mixed) but anna as a name is yellow and green (first a green, n yellow, second n green, last a yellow)

[@Weeman44444444444444]

I was born with this and I love it.

[@mrdistraction]

I was at the dentist, and when my dentist was giving me a shot, everything turned red. is that sorta like synesthesia??

[@kingklabe]

@Moocow515 Interesting. Does that mean you don't smell red and green? And I'm curious to know, when you see something red or green do you know what color it is? I mean can you at least tell the difference between the two?

[@Bubbijs]

A year or two ago my boyfriend was talking about how certain numbers have certain colors. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then today I heard about Synesthesia and realized that's what he has! :P I'm googling like crazy cause this is one of the most interesting things I've ever heard of.

[@davidleitman]

I wonder if there is a synesthesia for mathematics, as a child I remember knowing that 6*7 is 42 because it "seemed" like 42, 6 seemed green and 7 seemed yellow

[@audacieuselache]

This was great, thank you. very cool :)

[@TopHatKitty]

See I was thinking yeah I've experienced this a couple of times with like smell or touch in particular but not all the time, I'm glad he said you know that it can happen to non synesthetes sometimes because that makes me feel like I'm not just a little weird.

[@neerduh]

@kingklabe awesome. sounds like it works out for you since you are into mixing music. i see pulses of color/light as well as choreography that i doubt i could ever do. haha rhythm and beats are my friend, edc 2010 here i come :)

[@skener69]

WHERE CAN I SEE THIS FULL VIDEO

[@ZinTheRipper]

monday is red, tuesday is navy, wednesday is yellow, thursday is brown, friday is bright bright yellow, saturday is pink, sunday is maroon

[@zaros21]

Is it synesthesia if i feel warm and cool according to certain numbers/letters/ days/months, etc?

[@HogMachineD]

Monday is red, Tuesday is blue, Wednesday is green, Thursday is brown, Friday is white, Saturday and Sunday don't have colours. 1 is blue, 2 is red, 3 green, 4 brown, 5 white, 6 blue, 7 green, 8 red, 9 yellow. January white, February red, March pale red, April pale yellow, May no colour, June light blue, July dark blue, August yellowish brown, September yellow, October black, November no colour, December blue.

[@gilletteTBAMCG]

@ArtistryofDebauchery omg me too!! I found out a couple of years ago and participated in a study about it. My strongest sense is with numbers and personality, my 7 is the same as yours but my five is a portly, good-hearted business man. My favourite number is 24 because both two and four as so loving and friendly that they just get along so well. They remind me of Greek goddesses in a way. My sister has it too, but it's awesome to hear other people experience the same thing!

[@altoids79762]

I didnt think i am a synithese or whatever but this is how i study for test. I always assosiated things with other things. Or did i understand whaat a synisthete was

[@KendylTV]

Monday's definitely blue. Tuesday's green. Wednesday is pink-esque red. Thursday's a darker green. Friday's yellow. And Saturday's red.

[@thesonski93]

@katnissblue99 So what happens... you look at a letter for instance and physically you see the colour of that letter? or do you imagine the colour or do you have close your eyes and then see the colour?

[@amadorxo]

Wow this is interesting!

[@immabeamazing]

I have it with letters, most numbers, days of the week, and months with colors. haha monday is red for me too just like the lady in here! :) another thing for me is voices and sounds have colors, and shapes/lines.. for example, a low voice would be blue and circular and a higher voice would be a warmer color and a zig zag line.

[@bookworm598]

That's just like me! I knew for sure I had one type of synesthesia (Ordinal-linguistic personification) but I was never positive colors matched the letters because most of the colors did and did not exist so it really confused me!

[@wolfhraban]

@Brashar1 : The fact is, that when you associate some food or word with a color or a smell or whatever, it either is a logical association or a random association that will vary. Whereas synesthete will experience always the same association, without it having any particular logical association and most of them aren't aware of those association, it just is like that. In contrary, a non-synesthete will associate for instance electronic sound with blue because it is "cold", and this blue will vary

[@SomethingInAPurpleHatLalalala]

bright yellow because it fun and bright and summery and it seems to appear a lot in my letters and numbers along with green

[@ruzan10]

I have a friend that associates people with different colors. She says I'm blue and that she is red and my boyfriend is green, would that be synesthesia?

[@Crosshill]

This video has a steady climb. I dont know about SciShow tho. But what would anyone gain from claiming to be synesthese? And maybe more people who has synesthese comment, than those who doesnt?

[@choloperuanaso]

You guys have a gift and i would please ask you to use it for the good of mankind. God bless you all! i wish i got synaesthesia. :-(

[@Crosshill]

Oh, i hate when the doors slam when im tired. But i dont see colors. I see a black and white pattern, like a maze. Now i know why

[@koojean]

i sometimes saw yellow spots, but i thought it was only the sun and today i was walking towards a staircase and when i looked up i immediately saw green and red lines in the direction i was heading, and creeped out so i covered my eyes and my friend freaked out too, and it's dumb because i related the colors with christmas the second i saw them then i talked about this with a friend because she likes and knows about this kind of stuff, so she told me to look synesthesia up; it's interesting

[@majesticuni123]

I have synesthesia, and oh my god when the guy at the very beginning said peas were purple, no they are not to me, they are a light orange with a red haze.

[@djazr]

I ate jellybeans the other day and I sort of experienced this. Except I didn't associate say green with mint. It was like a memory of a colour or something I had eaten when I was younger.

[@Moocow515]

@kingklabe I'm not completely colorblind just red and blue, so most reds/blues look the same to me. I'm best at seeing colors in contrast. When looking at blending colors (For instance red to green and all shades in between) I can only pick out a few shades throughout it. I smell the color green for instances of smoke, I have yet to smell red. For instance, teal I am told is apart of the blue shades, but I see no blue in it at all. I see only green. It's quite interesting, despite theinability

[@jamescuttsiv8963]

What do you mean by "mirror touch"?

[@bertnvilkinz]

@BatterySphere...that's funny. Mine is the same with both letters and numbers, and it was always a big joke to my family because I was so clear on it after just learning them. In my mind it's always been the same...just the clarity changes. The interesting point is I'm just a regular english only boy and of course had no clue of the male/female Latin world at toddler/preschool age.

[@Anon1696]

Very nice film. :)

[@rainbows6100]

monday: lime green, tuesday no color, wednesday: light green, thursday and friday: navy blue saturday and sunday golden colored. yay for colors! :3

[@courtenaybg]

@1xDRCx i beg to differ. im sure there is a strong correlation, and it would make perfect sense. but being part of an orchestra i personally know people with incredible senses of perfect pitch, but without any form of synesthesia whatsoever.

[@DariushArdavan]

very nice vid

[@Moocow515]

@kingklabe I smell and feel colors. The kicker is that I'm colorblind. Makes things interesting

[@xxcrazyhatgirlxx]

I wish I had this! the book "a mango shaped space" (You should read it it's so good!) the girl has synesthesia

[@CiaraCauchi]

THANK YOU! SOMEONE HAS THE SAME COLOUR AS MY MONDAY

[@kilzter1]

I think I may have it... For me 1 is white 2 brown 3 light brown 4 green 5 orange 6 black 7 purple 8 yellow 9 red 10 gray

[@cat3162]

Songbird3rmj, yes you definitely have it! I also find it helpful for remembering things.

[@kingklabe]

@xXeoingTapaarXM265Xx Not at all. It actually gives my reality a touch of natural artistic flair. It doesn't get in the way of things. For me it's visual. There are some people who experience it in a more physical way where they taste words and smell colours. That would definitely bother me. You should look online for the documentary called "Derek Tastes Like Earwax" The title says it all.

[@kingklabe]

@neerduh Well I am pretty sure most peoples minds create odd pictures when they hear sounds. I guess I am just more conscious of it. But repetitive music, especially techno has much more of an effect.

[@taylorantley]

I've been TRYING to do this fuckin synesthesia collage project for a college art class for the past 8 hours. It is driving me crazy! If there's no connection between two things, what's the point? Monday is a color? What's the connection between time and the visible spectrum of colors? NOTHING.

[@KennJamisonJrS3NS0RYSTR33T]

Just because you can't see something (with your eyes) doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It only means that YOU CAN'T (physically) SEE IT. So, barring the ability to see anything at all, what would you do if asked to imagine a dragon? Or a unicorn, for instance? Why, you'd IMAGINE that sucker! That's what you'd do! So now, IMAGINE what the color of sound might be like. Or the TASTE of the FEEL. Or the SMELL of the NUMBERS or the COLORS of the LETTERS... But you gotta DREAM a little to GET IT! Get it?

[@1ForzaItalia]

@katnissblue99 When you say you have SPD do you mean Schizoid Personality Disorder? I'm a synethsete though it's not very pronounced, just numbers, letters, and countries with colors and sometimes letters with personalities. If you meant Schizoid PD, we're similar!

[@emrette3355]

A question for the synesthetes: What is your favourite colour and why?

[@jimena31]

@Y7FFVGcQ For me, S is dark blue, I is yellow, M is purple, O blue, N is green, and E is brown but if you put them all together I see Simone BROWN

[@JustSmokeAndMirrors]

@mrdistraction There are lots of different forms of synesthesia, pain causing you to see a colour is one of them - it sounds like you're a synesthete too.

[@sergantmine]

Cool, I have it as well! I hear colours :D

[@kingklabe]

@masterprogram There are many forms of the condition. For some people, it can be overwhelming especially if they have their sense of smell and taste are affected but personally, everything feels pretty normal. My synaesthesia is mainly a mind's eye thing. =)

[@seagers_studio]

Is it wrong to say that I want synesthesia?

[@shadd255]

if you look closely their right eye opens bigger than the left. they are all right brain dominant, creative people

[@andrews_bjj_judo]

that isn't a sign of brain dominance. nor is the visual system set up as ipslateral.

[@shadd255]

this is just based on my observations..i have many friends taking music and art with such trait..it may be just coincidence..i knew there is no direct relation

[@KennJamisonJrS3NS0RYSTR33T]

Hey Shad, a single dilated pupil (either left or right) almost universally is associated with unconsciousness, esp. in cases of concussion or deep REM sleep so, your observation is corroborative of the fact CSP has physical responses related to it! Good eye. :)

[@andrews_bjj_judo]

Bull

[@andrews_bjj_judo]

I do this for a living guys

[@iamismehellyeah]

everyone percieves reality in a different way...

[@SomethingInAPurpleHatLalalala]

Id love to but my parents dont allow me to have facebook :(

[@divinati0n]

suddenly everyone on the internet has synesthesia

[@crimses]

monday is green. grapes are orange. I hear letters too.

[@Withloveariaxo]

i think i have a slight form of this too haha. i imagine personalities for all numbers from 0-10. and then those personalities are associated with colors. it doesn't affect my life in any way at all, but i guess it's just something that i'll always think about.

[@PetraDelphine-fox]

D: i wish i could have an argument about what color Monday was.

[@Zendemic42]

Wish I had synesthesia :(

[@paasu-liiskens9699]

red, because number 9 is red, which is my favourite number, because her personality is the most similar to mine and she is friendly :D i hope you understood sth. (sorry it's a very clumsy sentence)

[@stopyourswearing]

that might be syn, as long as it is involuntary and consistent then it it syn

[@deaseda]

I thought everyone was like this. Apparently not.

[@klutzygirl31]

Actually synesthesia may not be nearly as rare as believed. There are just very few documented cases (most likely because so little is known about this and people overlook the sensory associations they possess) For example, I know that I have grapheme to personality synesthesia. I've always had it. I personify numbers, its why math is and has always been my worst subject. I'm sure that if anyone puts serious thought into this, they'll find some form of synesthesia in their subconcious

[@CiaraCauchi]

soz, its Yellow.

[@SomethingInAPurpleHatLalalala]

imagine if a non synesthete read through the comments... they would be soooo confused

[@bookworm598]

Actually that is a type of synesthesia, I have it too its called Ordinal-linguistic personification.