Synesthesia: The Gift of Illusions

Most of our society, at around the age of five or six, learn that the body can

experience five designated senses; seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and feeling. These

senses, however, are limited for most of us, but approximately one in 200 individuals are

endowed with the ability to sense other intricate and unique senses beyond anything the

average human being can begin fathom. Synesthesia is a gift that stretches the

boundaries of our previous conceptions on the distance between reality and fantasy, since

some synesthetes can even ‘hear’ and ‘see’ colors, and there are even more extraordinary

sensory perceptions. Synesthesia is a somewhat rare condition that may affect many

diverse groups of people, and can be diagnosed with key symptoms usually the product

of some stimulus.

Synesthesia is a sensory condition of perception in which people experience

“blending of their senses when they see, smell, taste, touch, or hear” (Gaidos).

Synesthesia occurs across the dimension of a sense or in experiencing two senses in

reaction to only a single sense (Maynard). For instance, this involves the individuals

affected by synesthesia, also known as synesthetes, to see sound, hear colors, or even to

taste shapes or formations (Gaidos). Perception is converted into from sense to another

sense. There are many types of synesthesia that differ depending on the specific

individual. The most common form of synesthesia is correlating numbers, letters, and

days of the week with a given color (Gaidos). For instance, a synesthete might associate

Monday with the color blue, Tuesday with the color yellow, and so on and so forth.

Synesthetes may also see numbers, letters, and days of the week on a continuum in space,

such as a row or column (Gaidos). There are a vast number of other synesthetic

conditions that may present in any given individual (Gaidos). Auditory synesthesia
involves mixing sound with another sense, and visual mixes sight with another sense;

both are also quite common among synesthetes (Gaidos).

A person who has synesthesia will consistently experience these blending senses

(Gaidos). For instance, if a synesthete corresponds the letter ‘a’ with the color red one

day, in a week, said synesthete will still correspond the ‘a’ with the color red. This is one

way to determine if any given person has synesthesia. If he or she has experiences in

which his or her senses are blended in any way, then he or she may have synesthesia

(Gaidos). This is not true for those who will occasionally associate letters, numbers, or

days of the week with colors randomly or inconsistently. True synesthetes will always

associate the same depiction as the same color, all of the time (Gaidos). Many people

will notice they have synesthesia when they associate letters, numbers, and days of the

week to colors, as this is the most common type of synesthesia, therefore the easiest to

diagnose and look up (Gaidos). Though synesthesia is an unusual condition to be

diagnosed with, it is not uncommon (Gaidos).

Scientists say that as many as one and every 200 people may experience

synesthesia (Gaidos). Synesthesia varies by genetics, gender, and lifestyle (Gaidos). Of

course, many different types of people can be affected by synesthesia, but some groups

are more susceptible to experience it than others. For instance, women may be more

likely to be affected than men (Goller). Also, in a study taken in the Netherlands,

researchers used a method known as DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging) to test synesthetes

against non-synesthetes and differentiate between the two in terms of the nerve fibers in

their brains (Gaidos). DTI measures how water flows to the brain, and in several nerve

fibers, water flows more freely in a given direction than another (Gaidos). This is true in
a nerve fiber that carries messages from brain cell to brain cell that is nicknamed white

matter (Gaidos). In the synesthetes in this study, scientists found higher levels of white

matter in three different regions of the brain; consequently, higher white matter counts

imply higher brain activity levels (Gaidos). Based on this study, people with higher

levels of white matter have been proven more likely to experience synesthesia (Gaidos).

Though many studies have been taken on people who identify as synesthetes, it is

estimated that there are many more that do not recognize their symptoms as synesthesia,

simply because it isn’t highly present in the media today (Goller). This makes it

somewhat difficult to identify specific groups of people who are most likely to have

synesthesia. However, as synesthesia becomes better publicized, more synesthetes will

come forward and share their stories, which will hopefully add to preexisting knowledge

of synesthesia (Maynard).

Synesthesia may be triggered by several provocateurs. One way is to be induced

by drugs or intoxicating substances that alter mental function. LSD (Lysergic Acid

Diethylamide) is known to cause episodes that mirror synesthesia in hallucinations

(Longe). The long-term effects of LSD can sometimes result in permanent synesthesia in

addition to other lasting effects (Longe). In addition, severe brain trauma or near death

experiences may also invoke synesthesia in the given individual (Goller). If enough

damage is inflicted upon certain areas of the brain, especially in the central cortex,

synesthesia can be produced as a result (Goller)(Gaidos). How each person is affected by

such stimuli can differ, resulting in different varieties of synesthesia. From person to

person, each response is very different (Gaidos).

 When a person experiences synesthesia, the sensory processing in his or her brain

is converging messages sent to the cortex (Gaidos). Messages from the eyes, ears,

mouth, nose, and nerves involved in the sense of touch move to the brain to be processed,

in the cortex, which is the outermost part of the brain (Gaidos). The messages from each

sense is processed in regions specific to each given sense, and then sent on to other

regions in the cortex for more processing (Gaidos). When a person has synesthesia, these

senses connect thus causing the perception of two senses to one (Gaidos).

As for living with synesthesia, many embrace the special gift they have; after all,

they get to go through life with an additional sense (Gaidos). It is a phenomenon that

doesn’t usually negatively affect human life. “For as long as I could remember, each

letter of the alphabet had a different and distinct color. This is just part of the way

alphabet letters look to me. Until I was 16, I took it for granted that everyone shared

those perceptions with me,” said Patricia Lynn Duffy, a synesthete who has written a

book on synesthesia (Gaidos). Synesthetes usually don’t consciously think about their

sensory perceptions; they just happen naturally, almost instinctively (Gaidos). There

have been cases where synesthetes report seeing colors internally, in ‘the mind’s eye’ as

opposed to in front of them, like a projection (Gaidos). Regardless of the type of

synesthesia, most synesthetes take their condition in their stride and use their gift benefit

others (Gaidos).

Synesthetes are very prominent in creative fields such as art, music, literature, and

sciences (Maynard). Two famous synesthetes are in fact the Russian writer Vladimir

Nabokov and physicist Richard Feynman (Gaidos). Additionally, a celebrity who has

publicly acknowledged having synesthesia is Patrick Stump, the lead singer for the rock
group Fall Out Boy. Given the approximated number of synesthetes as one per every 200

people, it isn’t uncommon to find

Outline

The Gift of Illusions: Synesthesia

What is Synesthesia?
Definition
Types of Synesthesia such as synaesthesia, auditory, visual
What is experienced when one has synesthesia?
Details on firsthand accounts
Symptoms/indicators of synesthesia
Who is affected by synesthesia?’
Types of people who experience synesthesia
Provocateurs of synesthesia such as drugs that can inflict synesthesia
How many are affected? How do they know they have synesthesia?
How does synesthesia impact/affect one’s lifestyle?
Living with synesthesia
What is life like as a synesthete?