Synesthesia rhymes with “anesthesia”

Anesthesia  = no sensation

Synesthesia   =  joined sensation

In synesthesia two or more senses are automatically and involuntarily coupled such that a voice, for example, is not only heard, but additionally felt, seen, or tasted.

Synesthesia is not imagination or learning. It differs from metaphor and deliberate contrivances such as colored music. Some couplings are more common than others: sound–sight synesthesia (colored hearing) is plentiful, whereas taste and smell combinations are rare.

Some form of synesthesia occurs in 1 in 23 people. It runs strongly in families and is a trait—like having blue eyes—and not a disease.

Synesthesia is no mere curiosity but a window onto how ordinary brains work. In fact, Richard Cytowic says we are all synesthetic, except  we don’t know it.

Are you synesthetic? Take the synesthesia test

Sound–to–Sight Mapping Demos ...

Oskar Fischinger, “Jazz” animation (courtesy of Jörg Jewanski)

Chopin, “Valse Brilliante” (Stephen Malinowski’s ‘Music Animation Machine’)

Musical intervals

Synesthesia Lectures and TV Clips

Cytowic At the Hirshhorn Museum Pt I                David Eagleman, Discovery Channel 

Cytowic At the Hirshhorn–Part II                         Good Morning America Clip

Cytowic at the Hirshhorn Part III                          Fox News Science interview with Melanie Alnwick

Cytowic at the Hirshhorn Part IV                         “Life Choices” program—a synesthetic family

                                                                           60 Minutes

Learn more in “Wednesday is Indigo Blue:
 Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia.”

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