Synesthesia is a fancy name for a sensory feeling. By having it, a person can feel the shapes while listening to a song or sees a color by hearing a name or word. Sometimes one can listen to the word "street" and feels the taste of citrus fruits. Even just by hearing the letter "A," he sees it pink. It is not a disorder. By having Synesthesia, a person experiences things differently.
Synesthesia is a neurological condition. In this case, external stimuli excite several of your senses instead of just one. The person having Synesthesia is considered to have a better taste of intelligence or memory than others. It is not a mental illness. Instead, it could be an exciting way to experience the world.
Who Discovered Synesthesia − Research on Synesthesia has not begun until the late 20th century. Nevertheless, the scientist Francis Galton mentioned the first example of Synesthesia in the 19th century.
Is it a Mental Illness − No, Synesthesia is not a mental disorder? It is a unique way to discover the world through multiple organs rather than one. People with Synesthesia enjoy being different from others.
People having Synesthesia for their lifetime are called Synesthete. Synesthesia, to them, is often a gift to explore the world in a kind of way through multiple senses. For ordinary people, one sensory organ is used for a single stimulus in general, but Synesthete experiences that single stimulus through different sensory feelings. When a person experiences Synesthesia, it gives an additional dimension to his senses. He may see specific colors while thinking of a person or reading words by hearing a voice in his head; some common examples of Synesthesia. Synesthesia gives synesthetes an additional dimension and vivid mental imagery. It can be a sign of creative thinking.
It cannot be said that Synesthesia is very common; however, it is not very rare. 3-5% of the world's population has experienced mild or several types of Synesthesia. However, women are more prone to Synesthesia than men.
Some of the common signs by which a person can understand that he may have Synesthesia are as follows −
See the shape and taste of the food.
See or hear a word and taste food.
Hear sounds and see shapes or patterns.
Hear sounds and taste food.
Hear sounds after you smell a specific scent.
Feel a touch when seeing someone else being touched. (This is called mirror−touch.)
Feel an object with your hands and hear a sound.
Synesthesia can be identified mainly through three symptoms −
Synesthete feels unusual perceptions than other people.
Their perceptions cross over between senses, like hearing colors or tasting smells.
Minds can be excited by a single stimulus unpredictably (seeing the red color by noticing the letter A)
Symptoms of Synesthsia | Minds can be excited by a single stimulus unpredictably Perceptions cross over between senses, like hearing colors or tasting smells Synesthete feels unusual perceptions than other people |
Synesthesia can combine any sense. So, no particular type of Synesthesia can be counted. In general, 60 to 80 types of Synesthesia can be found in nature. In the below, possible sensory combinations are given, called Synesthesia.
Audio−tactile Synesthesia happens when a sound prompts a particular bodily sensation (like shivering on the rear of one's neck).
Ordinal linguistic personification is a Synesthesia where ordered successions (e.g., the times of the week) are related to characters or sexes.
Grapheme−colour synesthesia happens when letters and numbers are related with explicit tones.
Mirror touch synesthesia has been depicted as supercharged compassion: An individual feels like they are being contacted if they witness it happening to another person. It very well may be harmless —, for example, a noticed benefit in perceiving looks — or oppressive, as on account of a nervous system specialist who felt extraordinary tension in his chest when he saw a patient getting CPR.
Chromesthesia happens when certain sounds (like a vehicle honking) can set off somebody to see tones.
Number structure happens when a psychological guide of numbers automatically seems at whatever point somebody considers numbers.
Lexical-gustatory Synesthesia happens when hearing specific words trigger particular preferences.
Spatial arrangement synesthesia includes considering numbers or mathematical groupings to be focused in space (e.g., close or distant).
Grapheme color Synesthesia, where the Synesthete experiences each number and letter by associating with a specific color, is very common. Chromesthesia, the combination of sounds and dyes, is well known.
Sometimes people may taste letters or associate specific notes with a particular test. It is one of the rarest types of Synesthesia, called lexical-gustatory Synesthesia. Apart from that, Sequence Space Synesthesia (experiencing space when thinking about time) and Swimming Style Synesthesia (seeing colors while thinking of a swimming stroke) are also unusual.
Synesthetes are generally born with this power. Nevertheless, in some cases, it develops with time. It happens when a single stimulus connects two or more brain segments. For example, lights may excite the Primary Visual Cortex, and taste is related to Parietal Lobe. A Synesthete can experience a particular test by seeing a specific-colored light. It happens because their brain has a high level of interconnectedness between different segments. The use of psychedelic drugs, psilocybin mescaline, and LSD can also increase the chances of Synesthesia.
There are some online tests available for Synesthesia to diagnose it. You can also check it out by yourself. For example, write down all the English alphabet and add the colors you see while writing those letters. Come again after 3 to 5 hours and do the same test; if you find a similarity between two activities, you may have Synesthesia. As Synesthesia is not a disease, there is no particular treatment needed for Synesthesia. Synesthetes may find it troublesome to experience and explain different sensual feelings, but most enjoy it. Instead of having a specific dominant side of the brain, they can harmonize between two sections equally.
If you have Synesthesia, there is nothing to worry about. A lot of famous and successful people are speculated to have Synesthesia. Kanye West, Duke Ellington, Mary J. Blige, Pharrell Williams, Tori Amos, and Lorde- all experienced Synesthesia in their lives. So it is just a unique sensory, neurological condition to experience senses uniquely.
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