The Curious World of Synaesthesia | Jamie Ward | TEDxCambridgeUniversity

In this talk, Jamie delves into the little known world of synaesthesia - a biological condition that causes people's senses to 'join up' when stimulated. By looking at the experiences of synaesthetes, we can understand how their different sensory systems are entangled, consider what these entanglements mean for the creation of artistic masterpieces, and ponder on the broader nature of the human sensory experience.
Jamie Ward is currently professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Sussex.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@clara.voyant555]

This is insane. I thought everyone experienced these things. I never knew this was what I had.

[@skmcc9252]

Neither did I until I asked someone if Monday was lemon yellow for them as well. I get the stretching feeling in front of Giacometti sculptures too. (Shell)

[@daisyqd5]

Me too for me 4-wife 5-husband 7mom of 8 , 8's wife 9 but doesn't like 9 instead he likes 4 , 4 is the daughter of 2 , 3 is father of 4 but 3 doesn't like his own child . 6 & 7 are parents of 8 but here 6 is a recessive character so 7 dominates 6

[@theweirdointhespotlight9405]

I thought everyone put gender and personality to different numbers until late last year…

[@shiyulin-pe7ii]

me too

[@CrispySkates]

lol yup thank KZbin ❤

[@tengwarsoup8836]

I'm on a binge of videos and articles about synesthesia, because I just found out I have it, and it's causing a minor existential crisis of "wait, that isn't how everybody thinks?" I was researching the classic color-sound type, and I found out about the spatial-sequential type, and apparently most people can't point to a spot where the concept of Saturday hangs out for them, so...

[@je19ss]

TengwarSoup me too

[@masonwood6765]

I’m the opposite, I though I was the only person who had it

[@cassiegomes6740]

I gender letters and see numbers when adding or multiplying. As well as see time. My favorite though is when I was younger and now I discovered that when my mom whispered in my ear to say something I felt it in my thigh

[@hashim4512]

TengwarSoup you still here ? I have the spatial sequential type , of time , where I can visualize a position of an " event " like yesterday night is behind me in my left shoulder , yesterday morning is behind me at my right shoulder , today's morning is at my feet and today's night is on my head , while futur days are like squares on a monopoly ..you feel me ?

[@PeachPlastic]

To me, the most unimaginable state is aphantasia. It seems like the far, far other end of the spectrum from where synaesthesia, association, and divergent thinking live.

[@surajkumarbehera]

I have been reading a really nice book called " the name of the book is secret" , I searched the word and found this video. The world is so amazing.

[@LOLO-jj2by]

I do not have this but it's fascinating to learn of this.

[@marciozago943]

I thought everyone was like this...

[@erin5498]

me too

[@alanatransify]

Me too

[@hayadawkassab6949]

@kingcerati I wanna have it💔🌚

[@iexist1738]

Me too

[@derpywoodoo]

I have spacial-sequence synesthesia and it's so bizarre to me that people don't have number lines in their minds eye or months placed in certain spots in space. I've become so accustomed to it now that I feel like my mind would be empty without them.

[@liz7694]

This is crazy I was literally using a Kandinsky to describe what a bunch of music playing at once sounds like!! I experience music as more of a whole where individual notes aren’t necessarily colors, more like heights and textures, but a whole melody has a color and texture or sometimes a whole environment. For example, fantasy music often brings up the feeling or color for a dense Forrest at night.

[@madamesocio9230]

Where my sound/color synesthetes peps at!

[@orhid6970]

Sir Socio For me it’s color-sound

[@tatidominguez9326]

Heree !!

[@SOGNAMETAL]

hear hear!

[@Lovemonaa]

I have all of them lol

[@abbeyb1744]

I have a question: do you see the colors faintly on top of everything else or is all of your vision just the colors that you see or something completely different?

[@reese9624]

WOAH! I knew that I had grapheme-color synesthesia, but when you played the video, I realized that I could hear it and was surprised when you said that it was silent! Thank you so much!

[@garyfinks4262]

I took exception to this swooshing he said people hear at the dots image, where it was played silently, (I heard swooshing to seeing the image of the dots ~ (but this doesn't really arouse my attention, because I could have easily understood that hearing certain things, when you see certain things, (without sound) "was so common"

[@VyvienneEaux]

As soon as he said, "each word is its own distinct colour, projected in their mind's eye, or perhaps floating like a ticker tape. . ." I was surprised that it's like that for other people!!! As soon as I discovered that it wasn't normal when I was a child, I asked everyone if they also saw coloured letters and words appear in front of them as they listened to someone talk, and they though I was crazy and hallucinating.

[@sammita3076]

watched an episode of criminal minds (S8E9 for reference) and the unsub had the exact type of synaesthesia you have; where you see words as people talk and the colour of them too x

[@brandib264]

I've had this my entire life but very specifically I associate numbers, letters, months, days of the week as genders. I just asked my boyfriend if he saw this too and he looked at me like a nut job. Total compliment. I hate being like everyone else.

[@aryaparekh1854]

I have the same thing. Until a last few years I thought everyone does the same but I asked all my people nd they saw me like you are weird.

[@wendycarballo9539]

You must've been a pick me girl

[@nextchurchministries]

I already knew I had it but this made it more easy to understand thank you so much

[@ocdplaylistmaker7032]

Does anyone have intense feelings when they listen to any music? Like, you are "floating" along with the notes? I had this glorious experience only once in my life, right before I fell asleep. There was another time where I had the sensation of falling through my own body, and another time, I felt the most amazing experience of being in the universe all around me. I miss it. I don't know what happened. :( But they were all singular occurrences, right after a very very stressful time in my life and I "cracked." It was like my brain was rewiring, and during this recovery I felt things I wouldn't normally feel.

[@dalleshancock4946]

So I realized I had audio-tactile synesthesia when I was trying to explain to someone what the word anger felt like on my body, and they looked at me like I was insane. I was 27 hahaha

[@surgathilakan8108]

Excellently put. Thank you for explaining this with so much compassion and science.

[@lottiewest5934]

i have calendar synaestesia which means i have always seen a visual calendar around me... weird, i know but i makes perfect sense to me...

[@allisonjernigan6509]

Me too I thought it was totally normal too!

[@elizabethsparks2319]

That’s incredibly interesting

[@gordslater]

A random Reddit reply brought me here. I just discovered I "see" the colour red "inside" my head kinda "behind" my eyes somewhere, from very deep bass notes from some tradtional African stringed bass instruments. Also very lowest organ notes. Always had it but only just recognised it for what it really is - thought it was just normal haha. I only get red, a fuzzy mist varies with intensity and varies with frequency. Only very slight change of colour hue though. Its a very slight effect, doesn't affect normal vision at all. Its a bit like watching the northern lights, very faintly, if that makes sense to anyone?

[@madeleinebrandenburg401]

This was really helpful. I have for my whole life always thought about the days of the week backwards. Sunday would always be on my far right and then Saturday would be on my far left. It's weird because I think left to right for the months in a year and year dates, it's just the days of the week. I am also very oriented around the Arts and have visuals when I am singing like the image is in front of me.

[@d2xr]

Idk much about this but I think it makes me appreciate music a lot more since I listen to music so much it’s usually the same songs over and over and I can tie them to events happening in my life so if I go back 2 years later and listen to that song and remember a bunch of events from that period of time when I listened to it. That’s actually pretty cool when I think about it.

[@alexanderhorter1287]

This helped me so much. Thank you.

[@sparkjolt]

I heard of synaesthesia way before I thought I had it. Sound-colour synaesthesia is the one that's mainly talked about (because it's the most common), and while I would rarely have some colours dash across my mind's eye with music there was very little to grab hold of, it was all very misty and hard for me to pinpoint. What I always had though was shapes. Music in particular, but certain words, noises, etc would be in all kinds of different shapes. Certain songs include texture. There's a song in particular with a bass note that so strongly reminds me of the density and sorta "squish" a tennis ball has, but with the texture being completely bald and smooth.

[@madamesocio9230]

Interesting, I have sound/color synaesthesia. Props. One of my favorite music is when the music has a consistent base throughout the music,I get to study the colors and shapes more thoroughly.

[@endelvelt7650]

macarion yes I thought that too. I have it lmao :))

[@Dougal-Mcguire]

ive sometimes thought i get synaesthesia and had it all my life but some peoples accounts of what it is i havent been able to relate to as the connections between sounds and images i get very vividly in my mind / imagination but theyre not intrusive visuals or sounds. i definitely see patterns and colours relating to sounds though. around 1:30 when the image began to move i got whites noise / airy whooshy noises in my head so it was cool when he said that those are the noises a synaesthetic (if thats a word lol) would hear. would love to hear other peoples accounts of this. as a musician its an awesome thing to live with. i didnt even realise it was a thing other people dont get after a conversation with a friend several years ago where we both related a rhodes organ to a deep maroon colour and noone else knew what we were talking about lol.

[@kevincika]

I used to believe this was a complete normal thing and everyone had it. I remember since i was a little kid, every number used to give me feelings (still does maybe even more) . Or i could link numbers with colours. And colors with some tastes. Also, some words used to give me clear feelings, irritation, imagine colors. This happens with shapes, some chord progression, outfits, when i see some country’s flags, ect. And only now i’m realizing this wasnt common. Even tho i feel lucky for having this ability. Because it helps me to write more, better and more realistic (i’m a writer and photographer too)

[@derpywoodoo]

I'm fairly certain I have spacial-sequence synesthesia. The months and days of the week are organized in a specific line in my head that can move and transform with context. For example, I see the week backwards with Sunday on the right and Saturday on the left, but only when I'm thinking about the upcoming week. However; if (for example) it's Tuesday and I'm thinking about what I have to do in the next couple days, it's Sunday on the left and Saturday on the right instead. Another example is that I have numerous number lines for different uses. For example, each age between 1 and 112 has a very specific spot on a number line in my minds eye. If you say your mother is 52, I get a mental image of the number 52 in its place on this number line. The curious thing about this line is that context sometimes plays a role in a number's location. Like the age of 21. Currently I'm 19, but when I think of myself becoming 21 it's in a different spot than it would be if you were to tell me you were 21. Another example is the time of day. When I'm told or think of a specific time, it's placed on a certain spot on the clock number line. Again, this also has some spots that change position with context. If it's 10pm and I'm thinking about 1 or 2am, it's right next to 12am; however, if it's 7am and I'm thinking back to 1 or 2am, they serve as the beginning or starting point of the number line separate from 12am. All of these lines stay consistantly shape. Even the altered positions are in the same spots every time. They're rigid in structure, yet fade in some spots just to have 'teleported' to another area on the line. Also fairly certain I have a very common form in which each letter of the alphabet has a distict color that again stays the same.

[@aiquesono]

same😲😲

[@avery7964]

I feel like I have this but I’m not quite sure I could be wrong but like idk

[@missrobinhoodie]

When I look at cars, they have different emotions, expressions, genders and characters for me. The lights are the eyes etc. Also I connect some letters and digits and names with color and sometimes physically feel what others feel (e.g. the pain when somebody gets hurt). But is that already synesthesia or is it just highly sensitive? I am an HSP by the way.

[@niamhhollis-locke]

Eena B sounds like mirror touch synesthesia!

[@missrobinhoodie]

Niamh Hollis-Locke thanks for the response!

[@imaanahmed4965]

@@missrobinhoodie and the character thing is called Ordinal Linguistic Personification! That's what I have too!

[@missrobinhoodie]

Imaan Ahmed thank you!

[@chloevega5711]

Bina Turtle idk about the cars but the second thing u mentioned sounds like mirror touch synesthesia

[@poetryjones7946]

This was a really rich purple Ted talk, I dug it. 💜👏🏽

[@naybobdenod]

Clearly the Thumb-Downers have little or no imagination at all. This is a wonderful and very descriptive video, pointing out what its like to have this somewhat curious condition. Greetings from the UK. John.

[@David030180]

Various forms of synaesthesia occurred for me during a psychedelic experience, it was very interesting, mainly sounds triggering colours and tactile sensations, or sound referencing objects, concepts or emotions etc. I don't have it congenitally, only recently learnt that people do.

[@hanktheblesseddeejay]

I very much enjoy my synaesthesia, especially when relaxing to music but I sometimes wonder how different it is from the psychedelic experience

[@amandamiller4145]

Every sensation I experience gets involuntarily translated into a visual image in my mind. I read what people are saying. I can see/follow shapes and movement, spatially, for every sound I hear. I can feel what I see. It's hard to explain having such a vivid mental world to others, and it can sometimes make simple, daily functions annoying. Sometimes it's hard for me to focus when there are too many sounds because it feels like constantly being "interrupted'. I listen to brown noise to block out sounds, from time to time, because it feels like my mind, visually, is surrounded by a soft pillow. I'm Amanda, and I have synaesthesia. Haha

[@hhhpestock951]

I thought it was sound #2, I didn't even realize how jumbled the picture was until he pointed it out

[@PeachPlastic]

4:56 "...if anything, the way our senses interact might be influencing our culture rather than vice versa." that's a very interesting point!

[@carriesmith7165]

The very best description of people who have synesthesia is that "they have a lower tolerance to the quantum world". Beautiful 💖

[@kadootje77]

I have time and space synaesthesia, also high sensitive to sounds, feelings, details, and then there is that I have always since a child felt numbers and sounds swell up and inflate, haven't figured what that is yet, and yes, I always thought everyone experienced life like this...

[@anthonyaldana8332]

You you understand me everything you said I experience you may be one of the only people who does

[@E-bk9vk]

I could hear the video but it went silent as soon as I realised that it's supposed to be silent! What's going on.

[@last1left502]

Thank you

[@tanaya4340]

I can smell people I haven't met,like I just watched a movie and I have a smell associated with the protagonist, numbers also have personalities , whenever I think about the years the color of the background they're on changes , Discovered this only today wow

[@tarheel777100]

This would honestly be pretty cool.

[@bnnybee]

Is that why hobby lobby smells the way Christmas tastes?

[@knt971]

i have calendar synesthesia(that means I see a visual representation of the year and the week) and I actually thought everyone had this. this whole synesthesia thing is really interesting I just don't see how it can benefit us

[@The_New_Abnormal_World_Order]

Sometimes if I'm watching a video and it shows strawberries then I start to actually smell strawberries, if I see traffic then I start to actually smell the fumes, etc. Is that connected to synesthesia? I do see music in my mind's eye and words/letters all have colours too. Occasionally I can feel sounds and it is quite painful and distressing. I'm bipolar as well.

[@benschrock1082]

Are there different levels of synesthesia? I don't actually see colors when I hear music, but I associate different colors and/or other characteristics with different notes (C is a strong red, D is a deep blue, etc.). Is this an example of synesthesia or am I just musically inclined?

[@benschrock1082]

Yes, thanks. The only thing I am wondering about is that I don't associate all sounds with colors - only certain sounds, such as individual notes and chords on the piano or other instruments. And I don't see any colors either; I just think of them.

[@benschrock1082]

Ok thanks very much! That's fascinating; I had no idea I had any form of synesthesia!

[@checkmate2489]

Benjs1999 What often isn't mentioned is that there is projection and association. Projectors physically experience their synesthesia. Associators associate their experience, but they do not physically experience it. For example, if "A" is red, a projector will physically see "A" as red on a piece of paper. An associator will think of "A" as red but not actually see it red. For example, I myself am a ticker-tape associator. I see the words I speak, listen to, and think of in front of me- only it's not actually in front of me. It's in my mind's eye. My synesthesia is also pretty mild; my mind tends to skip over easy words, like "the" and "a" and "it" but whenever I hear a complicated/long word, I must spell out and "see" the word in order to comprehend what the speaker is saying. Even if it's a word I have heard of before, it feels like a completely foreign word until I can see what it is spelled like. I always ask for people to spell out their names so I don't have trouble every time I hear/say/think of their name. I also get a battle inside my mind if I believe a name is spelled one way and then I learn it's spelled another. The name will switch back and forth from what I thought it was to what it actually is. I got a bit carried away here! While I cannot say if you have synesthesia or not, it sounds as if you do. Hope this helps!

[@benschrock1082]

Yes it does, thanks very much.

[@endelvelt7650]

Yes for example I have Grapheme colour, See-associator synesthesia. It took me a long time and a lot of reading to work out the exact name of mine. :))

[@eptm615]

I actually thought sound two fit more for me, because I saw that higher note on the chord in accordance with the large upward pointing arrow in the painting. But I really only have slight color/number synesthesia.

[@jgrtrx]

I just recently found out what spatial-sequence synesthesia is and I think I have it. My calendar is shaped like a continuous bent figure-8 and I connect what I read, hear, or watch on TV to geographical locations. For example, I remember soundbytes from my podcasts when I ride the bus in certain areas. Never realized it was unique until I could see an episode of a show playing in my head when revisiting places on Google maps when I was younger. It was such an unconscious thing.

[@shannonpalmer]

Jacob Grtrx I do exactly this! I’ve never heard anyone else describe this particular thing before, but i definitely do it too. I also put memories into the “locations” of my dates and times in my sort of mental map, which is actually really helpful when it comes to remembering random details of my past and when they happened.

[@catalina4424]

Amazing

[@PeachPlastic]

I had a music teacher in 7th or 8th grade who did a terrible job at explaining synaesthesia. He brought it up because Mozart allegedly had it, then went on to describe that people would essentially visually hallucinate bubbles of colour into the immediate real environment as a response to hearing music. While this is not completely wrong per se, the way he talked about it insisted that it was an overwhelming, impenetrable disruption that would probably interfere with anybody's ability to mentally grasp and interact with reality while this feedback phenomenon happened. Like psychosis. This portrayal made me conclude that I couldn't possibly have it. Except, many lives later, it turned out I did. Lol.

[@meganbright94]

I think that when I practiced music in high school, the associations between numbers and colors were stronger.

[@Pielobyte]

Certain numbers have personalities And soundscapes have colors and topography

[@miya1030]

I experience music as moving soundscapes with topography, and I’ve always thought of it as topographical, like you. Not every piece of music or song is this way for me, but when it happens, it is always the same with that piece of music and very distinctive and and unique to it. It happens automatically and involuntarily and is always the same. It’s good to see someone else comment this. :)

[@swagatasaikia1472]

I thot everyone liked this....bt I figured out in my mid teens that it IS unusual to see colors while listening music or voices!!

[@Pluto_Is_A_Planet_]

Man, I would love to jump in someone’s body who has this to better understand it as it’s SO hard to try and wrap my mind around what people with this actually experience. Very fascinating. Not sure I’d be able to handle it honestly. Then again, I suppose when it’s all you’ve ever known, you get used to it.

[@Dan-B]

I’m almost certain I have colour>grapheme synaesthesia, as I’ve always associated letter and numbers as having certain colours and textures in my mind (I didn’t realise that it wasn’t something most people do until I was in my early 20’s) Couple of questions for syntaesthetes: 1. Would you consider this as synaesthesia? Since by definition of the world, it isn’t “crossing different senses” 2. Do you physically see these colours? or is it just in your minds eye?

[@alarasii9257]

I just learned about an hour ago that not everyone is like this. And im trying to comprehend how the heck other people view the world... Im dumbfounded and im having such a hard time wrapping my head around the concept that I see the world differently then most???

[@bee_is_me_8102]

Idk if this is synesthesia, but if I see or think of pain, I feel strange as if I got hurt, but I don't feel pain, it's more like tingles.

[@takehiro12]

Spatial-sequence here, and I can report that as far as heredity goes, it's not the case with my family. I discovered that they do not see time, dates, number sequences in particular patterns at all.

[@paisleybabee]

I was just watching an interview with the first guitarist of Pink Floyd Bob Close. He said he believed that Syd Barrett had this

[@tatidominguez9326]

I give numbers genders, roles and personality. Some letters, the days of the week and music ( like the notes and songs ) have colours too. For example i can tell you that Dont stop me now ( A Queen song) is bright red, orange and yellow. 5 is red, and Saturday is yellow.

[@yohomie4098]

I see numbers, letters, words, etc... as colors, just not when I'm reading a story, or listening to someone speak (I'm usually paying too much attention to the story/conversation, and it's hard to single out colors when there are so many words). I also see music. Not in color, but it sections. I'll see a song in sections in order (in slow sections, there are more empty spaces, the words are spread out more, and vise-versa. But I also see notes of songs in a sort of vertical line. Just thought that's kinda interesting, and I should share. :)

[@LiaBurns]

Reminds me of my mom talking about eye racket

[@sweiland75]

Doesn't everyone receive the same sense when they observe others experiencing a specific sense? You watch a movie where a character does something that stimulates one of their senses and that sense is stimulated in yourself. Your mind immerses yourself into the story in order to experience it as if it were real.

[@deviateedits]

Nope, not for me at least. I experience sound-colour, grapheme-colour and motion-sound but if I see someone else experiencing a sensation that I can’t directly experience myself (so touch, taste or smell) I don’t get a ‘mirror sensation’ from it. The human brain is incredible in its variation, just another reason to meet your fellow humans with understanding, not judgement.

[@vedicpagan8852]

when im in a low lit room i notice it most if there is noise i see vivid bright flashing colours in front of me ,the sounds make differant colours its funny as i always had it thought everyone had it till i saw a docu on tv in the 90s lol also i thought i heard a back n forth swoosh with the video then you said was silent lol synesthesia is funny

[@marierosetj]

If you think you have this, what do you do? Talk to your doctors? Parents? I thought everyone “visually saw calendars” in their head. It’s so weird other people don’t.

[@petethegardener1968]

Best thing about this video is you might see the word Monday as green but I might see it yellow. It's odd n yes me too i didn't know it was odd till I told a mate that an ELO song was a bit heavy on the purple and he had to get me to explain it ..thought everyone saw music in the minds eye...odd?

[@miya1030]

Monday is yellow for me 😊

[@Pielobyte]

Music I really like tends to be pastel and feathery, sometimes landscapes

[@d2xr]

Brian eno 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽

[@raymondwhatley9954]

I've painted people's names before. Also, whenever I do a painting I "sign" it with a blue streak and a yellow streak for my initials DW (I go by my middle name, not Raymond)

[@tashakomaroff2982]

I have number form synaesthesia, and I didn't realize it was a thing until last year. I thought everybody thought the same way. When I would ask people what their mental calendars look like, nobody knew what I was talking about. So I thought I was just explaining it wrong.

[@LQOTW]

So, how do your days of the week fall, 3-dimensionally speaking? And does your position change with the advancement of days/weeks/etc...?

[@imaanahmed4965]

That's Time-Space synesthesia!!

[@lwiln4389]

The days of the week are like a circle around me, but the months are way more interesting. It's like an oval and they're not dispersed on the oval in a regular way, each month has a different location. I can move forwards and backwards depending which month I want to see : it's like a 3d dimension world and my brain is kinda floating there being able to go wheverer it wants. The line for the centuries is very curvy and whenever I hear or read a date I visualize it and place in the line. Same goes with numbers but it would be way more easy to explain to you if you were standing in front of me. How about you?

[@annmariyajohnson8295]

So true.... I totally relate to this

[@perchristensen3338]

People I have strong (positive) feelings for may be surrounded by an aura or the whole figure may appear as if having an overlay of colours. Aura and colours are beautiful, typical shades of honey colour or with a deep brown-yellow tint very similar to what seen in some of Rembrandts paintings.Of course this may be my own projections, but I believe these phenomenons happen in moments when there is a form of shared emotion or connection. So perhaps there is mixed in some kind of advanced blushing? :-)

[@bernadetteglass4851]

Per, I too see only in colours, unlike the usual synesthesia. I close my eyes and instantly see in colour, all different colours,

[@miya1030]

This sounds like it could be emotion to colour form perhaps?

[@mangosmooothie4826]

One thing I want to know is if you see words as colours for example and you come across a word that is new to you, does it have a colour that changes as you learn the meaning?

[@n8c.rad.823]

All of us that have this think everyone did until you say out loud that the letter A is the wrong color and has a pleasant disposition! Then the wtf looks followed! Embrace it cuz we are only 4% of the world!

[@pwnedeful]

Also when I listen to death metal or grindcore, I imagine like a compilation of dogs running to the beat of the music, and I find dogs running go really well with the tempo of the music

[@shinoyashino7995]

i think of yayoi kusama

[@mattlepke5960]

bruh people hear the minor chord with that painting?? fuckin-nah man that’s a holy bright painting that’s a major chord on god

[@miya1030]

Agreed. I heard it as sound number two, as well! It’s definitely a clear and pure sounding major key.

[@chrysopelea9418]

Fellow mirror-touch synesthetes here?

[@alexmcquillan4819]

I always thought this was normal, but I see a year as like an oval, and each year layers above each other. Like August, (my birth month) is lower right corner area. And always at the bottom. When you tell me a year, like 1930, I see like a long rectangle, with little years throughout. I always thought everybody saw this, but I guess it wasnt normal..

[@chloevega5711]

I’m a freshman in high school and it has taken me this long to figure out that I have synesthesia. Mine is auditory tactile which is one of the most uncommon forms. It’s basically where you can feel sound. I was at the store one day and there was this song that had this really intense electric guitar part that was almost impossible to miss from anywhere in the store and I just kept scratching my neck. To me this was normal and I was wondering why my mom and sister (who were with me at the time) weren’t doing anything like this. I said “u can’t feel that guitar?” And they just looked at me with the same old look they give me why I say something out of the ordinary. The next day I went to my biology teacher who was ridiculously smart for no reason. And she said I might have synesthesia and after a little research I found out that I’m a synesthete.

[@Okayme8080]

I can hear the sound by image

[@thegreatarkanum3037]

Gracious grace hi from the D.R. 🇩🇴 just wanted to share me too I hear sound from action anything that moves I hear a sound in the street on a tv even when mute but I have not idea what’s the name of my synesthesia or category I can also taste when touching certain foods , fruits ... etc

[@TonyFrench23]

Well there's synesthetes with their own very individual associations - and then there's the NOT 'little known world' - of creative correspondences that are the basis for animations, movie soundtracks, dance choreographers, etc. - very common in fact. 'What we call 'Art' could be the ability to be highly sensitive to such correspondences - high 'openness' to metaphor, ideasthesia, imitation/mirroring/emulation etc. - and what we call 'Science' could be being highly sensitive to differences/ discreteness, boundedness, data, details, explicate order etc. And each can serve the other of course (like the Yin-Yang symbol suggests). What's true is that we're all wired differently by biology and life experience - but in the depths there are very common collective associations at play - archetypal patterns of both biology and culture. Synesthesia studies overlap with many other fields, so it's important to develop shared metaphors and terminology - a 'synesthesia' and synthesizing of enquiries.

[@bernadetteglass4851]

I see in colours instantly when I close my eyes. I read about other synesthetes, and I agree with you Tony "with their own very different experiences" as I have never read about my kind of synesthesia..Would really like to correspond to someone who has the same experiences.

[@sara.athena_]

I thought everything was like this or that i wase crazy

[@riverdeep399]

Yep. High, jagged, screechy and painful. I get smells, colours, temperatures, physical sensations. Particularly with music or light smells that no one next to me can snemm yet. I can feel a scent, know what it is before my regular brain has even smelt it or named it. Its like a ...creeping feeling of recognition, and then the full info flows.

[@riverdeep399]

I Loved Dahli and absttact art. I could feel things. :)

[@ProfessionalSwag69]

LSD led me here

[@allisonjernigan6509]

Wait So not everyone can see the months in a circle going click wise?? Omg

[@meganlouise9007]

I have audio-tactile synesthestisia. It's awful sometimes 😂

[@karendinkel9040]

What if I see certain color combos for only a few names and piano keys?

[@mamas3cubs]

I hear names or some words by different foods, not so much in taste but the vision of or texture of the particular food. My oldest son has it also, and my youngest a daughter. Our words or names and the particular food isnt the exactly same, if you say a word or name 5 minutes from now or 40 years from now, the answer as to what food is related won't change. Im almost 60 yo. and still the same as when a young child. My daughter did research and told me there was a name for it.... synesthesia!

[@MeatPopsycle]

I feel frequencies from headphones in in my leg nerves...

[@nickc.4070]

hmm does my case count as synesthesia? i often find myself relating music/sounds to motion. when i listen to a song i can almost see a bunch of shapes and figures that represent different elements of what i'm hearing, and they move based on the way they sound

[@annmariyajohnson8295]

Me too... I do have this..

[@miya1030]

Yes! Sound to kinetic synesthesia. I have a version of this, too. 😊

[@moralrevulsion_live]

I became 19 when I understood is a Not an all human Thing 🤣

[@aeterne5554]

my reaction to this: o my god, it's like ratatouille but real!

[@pwnedeful]

Ok I greened out one time on weed, and I had like an unreleased Alice in Chains songs in my head. This was also at night so when I walked by my friends car I thought his headlights were emitting smoke.

[@girlsandthegays]

i think i have synesthesia .i think numbers as people .number 2 is a pretty girl and she is in love with number 1.and number 2 is susan from fantastic 4 movie .her bf is that guy from that movie .and number 7 is num 2s bro.he is the brother of susan from that movie .and num 3 is 2s youngest brother .he is like 10 in age.

[@d2xr]

Wow pretty interesting I can see how those relationships are formed but I have more audio synesthesia (I think). I can listen to a song and attach that song with events happening in my life (breakup, stressful time, good times, family problems, personal problems) and if I go back 5 years later And it kinda like travel. I can recall many things from that point in the time in my life when I first heard the song a bunch. But I can also listen to music and not attach any meaning behind it.

[@katyjohnston1747]

came here to understand the artist jack coulter

[@redmenace3786]

This is CRAZY! I have this too but with videogames! I think of fortnite as a really like cool feeling and a game like roblox or minecraft is a very lame, baby feeling. Depending on the game some feel different like some feel cooler and some just feel boring.

[@justjulia1720]

8:14 I I didn't feel the finger on my cheek but I did feel that finger on my forehead. What's up with that? Also, even tho I didn't feel the finger on my cheek, I felt as if the woman's cheek is somehow part of my body. Like, I felt the woman body a if it was another part of my own, and I did feel the finger. I'm confused. Now that I rewatched it, I felt my finger touching her cheek

[@natlierogers9937]

I have ordinal linguistic personification disorder I associate alphabets, numbers with personalities. And I felt everyone had this...

[@yulias2789]

I always get frustrated with number of colors in marker sets or crayon sets, there’s not enough of them, I can never find needed color, I feel like there should be more completely different ones, they are somewhere. Btw I have time synaestesia for sure.

[@lemondmon417]

Where are my fellow OLP synthesizes? (BTW, what is your favorite color/number and their personality???)

[@Moodles-]

Until know I only vaguely knew what synesthesia was. I actually feel/see motion in sound. I can also hear colors. (To some extent...) but I couldn’t really put the term “synesthesia” to my case cause I did not know exactly what it was. When I hear motion I can weave a moving, pulsating, and sometimes vibrant, Galaxy? That’s the best way I can describe it... No wonder I can tolerate Dubstep! 😆

[@mrsmyspace]

i think i have ordinal linguistic personification can someone help me?

[@sarahhossain3175]

same me too

[@archerponty5289]

Well I don't have it, I've never heard of it, and I don't know anybody who has it, unless they have it and didn't tell me.

[@bryanwebster7027]

about 4% of people have it, so if you know 20 people, it is likely you DO know someone with synesthesia. good for you

[@chrysopelea9418]

Most synesthetes don't even know that they have synesthesia. Odds are you've probably met someone with it before, but they just didn't know that they were experiencing the world differently from everyone else.

[@rez4998]

Anybody else have audio tactile or visual tactile synethesia?

[@mended8774]

Damn, i wish i got to see sounds, i only get to smell images.

[@DavidJones-bz3cz]

Ok to the people who are like I thought everyone had this this only happens to a small part of the population so at least some of u are lying

[@2killnspray9]

If you only feel the pain but not a simple touch it's normal or not? I mean is it synesthesia?

[@chrysopelea9418]

My synesthesia is sort of similar to this. I'm pretty sure that if you only feel pain instead of minor sensations, it just means your synesthesia is less sensitive, like mine. I can feel intense pains more distinctly than a simple touch. Watching horror films is especially difficult with this type of synesthesia because pain is the main thing that my senses replicate.