Synesthesia?

[Rosy_Owl]

CH1YO

BlackRose3793

CH1YO

BlackRose3793

, a bird gliding in the distance has a different sound than a bird flapping its wings...

They do make different sounds.

Haha I know that. I mean off in the distance just the sight of the bird flying produces a sound even though it should be too far physically to do so.

Do the sounds sound like the real sounds?

Kind of, but they're simpler than most actual sounds. Like, if something appears on a screen I kind of hear a popping sound, but for more continuous motion, like a raindrop sliding down a window pane, I hear kind of a whirring or a held out tone.

I actually first came across this in psychology, but I was interested and found this really fascinating paper on this particular type of synaesthesia: http://hfac.gmu.edu/people/jthompsz/saenz.pdf. You should read it if you're interested. Apparently it is a more recently-acknowledged variety of the condition. Although the sample size they used in this experiment is super small, they tested a really interesting concept if you ask me. :]

[CH1YO]

BlackRose3793

CH1YO

BlackRose3793

CH1YO

BlackRose3793

, a bird gliding in the distance has a different sound than a bird flapping its wings...

They do make different sounds.

Haha I know that. I mean off in the distance just the sight of the bird flying produces a sound even though it should be too far physically to do so.

Do the sounds sound like the real sounds?

Kind of, but they're simpler than most actual sounds. Like, if something appears on a screen I kind of hear a popping sound, but for more continuous motion, like a raindrop sliding down a window pane, I hear kind of a whirring or a held out tone.

I actually first came across this in psychology, but I was interested and found this really fascinating paper on this particular type of synaesthesia: http://hfac.gmu.edu/people/jthompsz/saenz.pdf. You should read it if you're interested. Apparently it is a more recently-acknowledged variety of the condition. Although the sample size they used in this experiment is super small, they tested a really interesting concept if you ask me. :]

That's interesting and seems to make a lot of sense. I wonder if any scientific literature on the theme exists.

[Rose die Valkyrie]

I have a mild form of it, the word/color variety to be exact.

Most words, nouns, or even just particles of a word have a distinct connection to a color in my head. I don't visually see written words in color though, it's just an intense sense of certainty about it.

One way it's affect my life a little bit is that when I was a kid I used to make up characters and fantasy lands with my friends and they all agreed I came up with the best names. I would try to explain to them my process of constructing these fanciful names, which involved having all particles of the name form a good color combination and making sure the colors match the character's personality and history. Needless to say this confused the hell out of my friends and the issue was dropped and I went on being the official thing-namer.

It still affects me today actually because one of my hobbies is writing original fiction and coming up with what I consider good (i.e. having complementary color combinations) names can get a bit complicated because I can't stand a character having a name that doesn't suit them.

Every now and then it comes up as a good parlor trick at parties because once the people there know I have name-color synesthesia they want to know the color of their name.

An example of my synesthesia is the name "Alexander", which is a bright golden color. The "Al" and "Ander" particles are both in the yellow spectrum so it overpowers the "X" in the name which normally gives names a colder, darker color near the blue to purple area.

If I had to create a character based solely on the name "Alexander", I would envision a golden ruler who struggles with an inner darkness, represented by the "X" in the middle of their name which at its worse can look totally black at its darkest.

If I remove the "Al" and just have the name "Xander", it becomes a light purple color. The "X" overpowers the yellow "Ander" particle yet the brightness of the "Ander" particle lightens the overall shade of the name. A "Xander" would be a mischievous trickster but still on the side of good, since the "Ander" particle is a golden, almost wheat-grain color which I associate with "goodness".

The different colors attached to the particles also all have emotions and ideas attached to them as well. Yellow names are attached to good characters usually, unless it's a sickly shade in which case the character is usually corrupted and nasty. Purple names are one of my favorite shades, there's a certain quirkiness about the shade with qualities like wisdom, unconventionality, dry wit, charm. (Plus, my name is purple xd ) It's also probably the most "magical" of colors and if a character I create is a general magic practitioner of some sort I usually make sure their name comes out purple.

All in all I like having synesthesia, I think of it as just another way my brain works in unconventional ways. Plus it doesn't hurt that it makes me seem more interesting than I really am.

[CH1YO]

Rose die Valkyrie

I have a mild form of it, the word/color variety to be exact.

Most words, nouns, or even just particles of a word have a distinct connection to a color in my head. I don't visually see written words in color though, it's just an intense sense of certainty about it.

How do you perform at Stroop tasks, if I may ask?

[Chromosexual]

Rose die Valkyrie

I like it for the same reason. =w= And that's why I like music... most of it is purple. But the cymbals hurt my teeth, even if they are one of the best shades of purple. Drums are a nice deep purple, and so are heartbeats.

[Rose die Valkyrie]

CH1YO

Rose die Valkyrie

I have a mild form of it, the word/color variety to be exact.

Most words, nouns, or even just particles of a word have a distinct connection to a color in my head. I don't visually see written words in color though, it's just an intense sense of certainty about it.

How do you perform at Stroop tasks, if I may ask?

I took a sample test here.

These were the results:



So I guess I did well? I did have to concentrate. From the looks of the other scores it looks like most people score above 90.

Apparently it doesn't inhibit me in that regard.

[Harmonizing Dichotomy]

For me, a lot of words and ideas have a physical location in space, if that makes sense. Not necessarily in the space around me, but almost as if they were in a room inside my head. I use this same "organizing" idea to connect different memories, to help my ability to recall things. It's not foolproof but it's something I've gotten better at utilising over time.

What I've noticed over the years is that it makes learning new words in other languages a lot easier - the word "goat" [English] is in the same "space" that "chèvre" [French] is, for instance.

I'm not certain this is considered a form of synesthesia or not, though - I've heard similar concepts described as it but I've never read a description of exactly what my experience is like.

The only color-grapheme synesthesia I have are for specific numbers, and most names. Letters don't do anything all on their own (which leads me to believe it's an association based on the sound of entire words?).

Synesthesia really fascinates me, it's interesting reading about others' experiences. : )

[Chromosexual]

Harmonizing Dichotomy

If dates can have location, so can words. 3nodding

[CH1YO]

Rose die Valkyrie

CH1YO

Rose die Valkyrie

I have a mild form of it, the word/color variety to be exact.

Most words, nouns, or even just particles of a word have a distinct connection to a color in my head. I don't visually see written words in color though, it's just an intense sense of certainty about it.

How do you perform at Stroop tasks, if I may ask?

I took a sample test here.

These were the results:



So I guess I did well? I did have to concentrate. From the looks of the other scores it looks like most people score above 90.

Apparently it doesn't inhibit me in that regard.

That looks like quite an impressive score. I would have thought you'd do very well or terribly, it looks like the former.

[Taikyoku]

I think a lot of people experience minor synesthesia without even realizing it. I've always had synesthesia when it comes to numbers or so, I see them as being on a line with backgrounds getting darker and darker on the number line up to about twelve or so, that's the cutoff point, and then another gradient, but a bit lighter towards the end this time, going up to about twenty. Synesthesia's been linked with excellent memory, by the way, so I suppose we ought to feel lucky to have it. It does make sense, I mean I know I personally remember things very clearly if I associate one thing with another, that's how mnemonic devices work, right?

On a more personal little fun fact, synesthesia is a definite effect of some of the major psychedelics and beneficial psychoactive compounds! Just throwing that out there.

[Chromosexual]

Taikyoku

I think a lot of people experience minor synesthesia without even realizing it. I've always had synesthesia when it comes to numbers or so, I see them as being on a line with backgrounds getting darker and darker on the number line up to about twelve or so, that's the cutoff point, and then another gradient, but a bit lighter towards the end this time, going up to about twenty. Synesthesia's been linked with excellent memory, by the way, so I suppose we ought to feel lucky to have it. It does make sense, I mean I know I personally remember things very clearly if I associate one thing with another, that's how mnemonic devices work, right?

On a more personal little fun fact, synesthesia is a definite effect of some of the major psychedelics and beneficial psychoactive compounds! Just throwing that out there.

I've never done drugs- I was born this way. x'D

And yes, I believe everyone has some form of it. Most probably just have never heard of it.

I have excellent memory, especially when it comes to years.

[Rosy_Owl]

CH1YO

BlackRose3793

CH1YO

BlackRose3793

CH1YO

BlackRose3793

, a bird gliding in the distance has a different sound than a bird flapping its wings...

They do make different sounds.

Haha I know that. I mean off in the distance just the sight of the bird flying produces a sound even though it should be too far physically to do so.

Do the sounds sound like the real sounds?

Kind of, but they're simpler than most actual sounds. Like, if something appears on a screen I kind of hear a popping sound, but for more continuous motion, like a raindrop sliding down a window pane, I hear kind of a whirring or a held out tone.

I actually first came across this in psychology, but I was interested and found this really fascinating paper on this particular type of synaesthesia: http://hfac.gmu.edu/people/jthompsz/saenz.pdf. You should read it if you're interested. Apparently it is a more recently-acknowledged variety of the condition. Although the sample size they used in this experiment is super small, they tested a really interesting concept if you ask me. :]

That's interesting and seems to make a lot of sense. I wonder if any scientific literature on the theme exists.

I don't think much else besides that paper and some news bits covering the same topic exist at the moment since it's fairly recent, but I'd love to see what further studies of the phenomenon would produce.

[Rosy_Owl]

CH1YO

Rose die Valkyrie

.

That looks like quite an impressive score. I would have thought you'd do very well or terribly, it looks like the former.

I wouldn't necessarily expect someone with synaesthesia to necessariy do terribly on the Stroop task. If the words appear in the colors that the synaesthete normally associates with them, I'd imagine that they'd do better on those ones, and maybe struggle with words that are not the color that the person expects them to be in their mind. So perhaps Valkyrie's test reflected a lot of her own color associations? Seems unlikely, but it's definitely possible.

[CH1YO]

BlackRose3793

CH1YO

BlackRose3793

CH1YO

BlackRose3793

Haha I know that. I mean off in the distance just the sight of the bird flying produces a sound even though it should be too far physically to do so.

Do the sounds sound like the real sounds?

Kind of, but they're simpler than most actual sounds. Like, if something appears on a screen I kind of hear a popping sound, but for more continuous motion, like a raindrop sliding down a window pane, I hear kind of a whirring or a held out tone.

I actually first came across this in psychology, but I was interested and found this really fascinating paper on this particular type of synaesthesia: http://hfac.gmu.edu/people/jthompsz/saenz.pdf. You should read it if you're interested. Apparently it is a more recently-acknowledged variety of the condition. Although the sample size they used in this experiment is super small, they tested a really interesting concept if you ask me. :]

That's interesting and seems to make a lot of sense. I wonder if any scientific literature on the theme exists.

I don't think much else besides that paper and some news bits covering the same topic exist at the moment since it's fairly recent, but I'd love to see what further studies of the phenomenon would produce.

I'll check back in a few years then and see what happens.

[CH1YO]

BlackRose3793

CH1YO

That looks like quite an impressive score. I would have thought you'd do very well or terribly, it looks like the former.

I wouldn't necessarily expect someone with synaesthesia to necessariy do terribly on the Stroop task. If the words appear in the colors that the synaesthete normally associates with them, I'd imagine that they'd do better on those ones, and maybe struggle with words that are not the color that the person expects them to be in their mind. So perhaps Valkyrie's test reflected a lot of her own color associations? Seems unlikely, but it's definitely possible.

A Stroop task relies upon conflicting stimuli, synaesthesia either adds or removes a confusion; hence high or low.