Other Definitions
synaesthesia (dict)
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Synaesthesia - Note: there is also an industrial music band called Synsthesia.
Synaesthesia (also spelled synesthesia); from the Greek (syn-) union, and (aesthesis) sensation; is the neurological mixing of the senses. A synaesthete may, for example, hear colors, see sounds, and taste tactile sensations. Although this may happen in a person who has autism, it is by no means exclusive to autistics. Synaesthesia is a common effect of some hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD or mescaline. Synaesthetes often experience correspondences between the shades of color, tone of sounds, and intensity of taste that provokes an alternate sensation. For instance, a synaesthete may see a more intense red as the pitch of a sound gets higher, or a smoother surface might make one taste a sweeter taste. These experiences are involuntary, are not metaphorical, are not merely associations, and are consistent throughout life, although some young synaesthetes seem to lose their ability by or during adulthood. Depressant drugs tend to increase the depth of the perception. Synaesthesia can even occur when one of the senses no longer functions properly, e.g., a person who can see colours when words are spoken can still see the colours if he becomes blind in later life. Two of the most common forms of synaesthesia are seeing sound or seeing letters and numbers in color. Richard Cytowic wrote a pop-psych book about this condition entitled The Man Who Tasted Shapes. Some researchers and theorists have suggested that synaesthesia may have played a part in early humans' development of writing and written literacies. Alternate spellings exist (synaesthesis), and many of those who experience the phenomenon identify as "synaesthetes". Synaesthesia in art Synaesthesia is a legitimate poetic device. In a familiar example, Andrew Marvell characterized the fruitful and serene atmosphere of the garden as - Annihilating all that's made
- To a green thought in a green shade"
- ( —"The Garden")
Likewise, Nick Carraway, the narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, recounts "yellow cocktail music" playing at one of Gatsby's parties. Synaesthesia has influenced many artists in various fields, including poets Charles-Pierre Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud (specifically his poem Voyelles), and an ersatz synaesthesia has sometimes been overused since as a shortcut to "modernity." Composer Alexander Scriabin, in his orchestral work, Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (1910), included a part for a "clavier à lumières". This instrument was played like the piano, but produced colored light instead of sound. Synaesthesia as a drug effect played a role in the popular song "Lake Shore Drive" by Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah: - Sometimes you can smell the green
- When your mind is feeling fine
- ( —Aliotta, Haynes and Jeremiah)
Alexander Scriabin did not experience the physiological condition of synaesthesia. The color system he described and which he used in pieces such as Prometheus, unlike most systems and synaesthetic experience, line up with the circle of fifths, indicating that it was a thought out system that was also influenced by his theosophic readings, and based on Sir Isaac Newton's Optics. Many other artists have used fabricated synesthetic systems, such as the Italian futurists Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Wassily Kandinsky. Amy Beach was a synesthete, seeing different colors for different keys, as well as possessing absolute pitch. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was reputed to be a synesthete. Olivier Messiaen was a true synesthete; he discussed his condition to a great extent in his writings, going so far as to describe in detail the exact colorations evoked by particular chords. Contemporary postminimal composer Michael Torke is a synesthete, who perceives colors for various time units. French drummer Manu Katch and world renowned oboist Jennifer Paull are both synesthetes, Katche seeing various images with music, and Paull seeing an expanded unexplainable spectrum to various sounds, the sensation of the oboe compelling her to take it up. In his autobiography, Vladimir Nabokov described his own synaesthetic experiences. The American physicist Richard Feynman admitted to seeing the algebraic symbols of Bessel functions in colour. Electronic music artist Richard D. James (better known as Aphex Twin) is said to be a synaesthetic, as is Stephen Hargreaves, whose Children of Laudanum titled their first LP Synestheia. As digital entertainment becomes more developed, the possibility of synaesthesia through technology has begun to be considered. Several video games already use the term in their advertising, most notably the 2001 Dreamcast/PlayStation 2 game REZ (which does have some elements of synaesthesia in its gameplay, notably the interaction of controller vibration, music, player interaction and graphics). Other examples "I have synesthesia, and as a child I thought it was normal until I realized other people didn't see numbers and letters as colours. I believe synesthesia can link any kind of sensory input to abstract forms like letters and numbers, but in my case (and in most), it's simple colours. This makes it easy for me to remember trivial information like phone numbers, account numbers, historical dates, and pi (3.141592653589 is how far I remember without looking it up). Every string of numbers and letters forms a composite colour based on those of its individual characters. I've studied Japanese for a few years and now find that Japanese syllable characters also have colours for me now. I imagine that with extreme synesthesia, a person might understand abstract notions like numbers and math in a completely different way. I remember once showing my sister two Smarties (they're like M&Ms) and telling her they were "3" and "6" instead of yellow and green. It took me a moment to realize why she didn't understand." http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=140022&threshold=-1&commentsort=0&tid=99&mode=nested&pid=11725481 External links - People who feel color gets scientific acceptance
- http://www.colortronic.tk Colortronic is an electronic music project from Brazil which blends color and music.
- http://synaesthesia.fws1.com A highly synaesthetic person's experience including letters having colour and texture, and digits having colour and personality.
- http://www.geocities.com/dachshundweaver/syn.html A girl's Geocities page about her gustatory, or word-tasting, synesthesia.
- http://home-1.tiscali.nl/~cretien/pub/syneng.htm Crétien van Campen, 'Artistic and psychological experiments with synesthesia' gives the historical background.
- http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v2/psyche-2-10-cytowic.html Richard Cytowic, 'Synesthesia: phenomenology and neuropsychology' emphasizes the involuntary nature of the cross-modal perceptions and "distinguishes it from metaphor, literary tropes, sound symbolism, and deliberate artistic contrivances that sometimes employ the term "synaesthesia" to describe their multisensory joinings.
- http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v3/psyche-3-06-vancampen.html Crétien van Campen, 'Synesthesia and artistic experimentation' comments on Cytowic, adducing the examples of Scriabin's and Kandinsky's experiments as relevant for the study of synesthesia.
- http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/index.htm Synaesthesia and the Arts - Dr. Hugo Heyrman 'Museums of the Mind'. Research and theory on the future of the senses. Homepage of the Belgian Synesthesia Association.
- Synaesthesia and Education: a research project at the University of Cambridge investigating the effects of grapheme-colour synaesthesia on numerical processing in children.
- Scientific American article Hearing Colors, Tasting Shapes by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Edward M. Hubbard, May 2003.
- A Brief History of Synaesthesia and Music
- Synaesthesia - union of the senses (from Kuro5hin)
- Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens by Patricia Lynne Duffy
- American Synesthesia Association
- CNN article on tasting musical tones
- Why some see colours in numbers at BBC News, 24 March, 2005
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