I think I have Synesthesia
A while back, I remember reading an article on something called “Synesthesia”. I remember thinking, “Oh wow, I didn’t know there was a condition for this!”, which seems to be the normal reaction for those who are “diagnosed” with this “disorder”.
I put those words in quotes, because I’m not so sure it’s a “disorder”. You see, Synesthesia is when you perceive colors along with letters, words, or sounds. Sometimes, even different tastes.
When I was a kid, I remember learning the alphabet with colors. No one taught me that each letter had a color, it was just something I did on my own. The same thing with numbers. Even days of the week and months of the year have colors. It’s not so much that I see these colors when I read words, but rather, think of them. It’s very unintentional, as well. I even remember as a kid when I’d draw pictures, I’d pick the color of the letter for whatever word I was writing. A is red, for example. B is black, C is yellow, D is brown. E is also brown, while F is a light sage-y green. The number 1 is white, 2 is blue, 3 is a tan, 4 is red, 5 is black…
I guess I’d just always assumed that’s how it always was. But it’s not that I see a rainbow of colors when I read. I’m not THAT bad, although some people with the disorder do see rainbows on the page for every letter. Rather, when I see the letter, I think of that color. It’s automatic and I don’t even know I’m doing it most of the time.
Even when teaching my kids, I was just realizing today while my son counted to 100 and wrote the numbers down on his worksheet that the teens were white, the twenties were blue, the thirties were tan and so on. But only in my head, not on the page. It’s so weird.
Sunday is light blue. Monday is brown. Tuesday is a mustard. Wednesday is white and black together, however, it’s not grey (very strange), Thursday is orange and Friday is green. Saturday is a dark blue.
January is yellow. February is green. March is brown. April is pink. May is black. June is gold. July is orange. August is red. September is light blue. October is black. November is white. December is brown.
I always thought I was kind of weird that way, and actually, I haven’t told many people about “seeing” colors with letters, numbers and words. Because I don’t really think it’s not normal. I know other people don’t do it, but I never really thought to bring it up before. Some people who see the same things often put colors to music as well. I’ve never done that.
But here’s an interesting article on Wikipedia about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
I’m quoting from the text; this is what it’s like for me:
“Another reports a slightly different experience. “When I actually look at words on a page, the letters themselves are not colored, but instead in my mind they all have a color that goes along with them, and it has always been this way. I remember back in kindergarten thinking that each homeroom had a different color associated with it. I would sometimes say things referring to that class and calling it by its color. It is also like this with days of the week, months, and so on. I thought this was caused by me over-thinking things. But I finally have come to realize that Synesthesia is real.”
Here’s a link to a story on seeing color with music:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/09/synesthesia.genes/index.html
Anyone else have similar experiences? I must say I always thought this was one of my many weird quirks. Looks like I’m not alone after all.
~~Becka
Wow Becka, I’ve never heard of this before. Is it distracting or so normal to you that it doesn’t affect your reading, etc.
My only experience that is even remotely similar is with Synaesthesia… the Delerium side project. Their Epheneral album was pretty dang good.
Rosie,
I don’t see colors as I read, the letters are black as they should be. Rather, whenever I think of a letter, number, or a certain word, I’ll think of the color as well.
So I don’t “see” the colors, I just associate the letters with their color. I do it automatically. And now that I think about it, when I write words I imagine the color of the first letter of the word. So each word becomes associated with the color of the first letter.
But it’s all in my head, I don’t actually see the colors.
–Becka
Interesting . . . never heard of this before. Perhaps it’s more common with creative people? Writers, artists? I’m not very creative and I see in bland black and white. This “seeing” in colors sounds kind of neat!
Found a website online, http://www.synesthete.org, where they’re actually studying the phenomena through volunteers who join their site. I joined and spent the 1/2 hour to take their tests.
According to my scores, it says I am a Synesthete (what they call people with the “disorder”). They test you on the colors you say each letter, number, day of the week, or month is. If you just do the test by memory, you won’t get as “good” a score as someone who merely takes the test as a Synesthete.
They first have you assign colors to the letters of which you have to do the letters and numbers three times each, then they have a timed test to say if a sample color does or does not match the color you chose for the letters/numbers.
They judge you on your accuracy of what color you’d previously assigned as well as the speed of your answer. Synesthetes answer faster than those who merely memorize colors for each letter, because they don’t have to think about what color goes to which letter.
Very interesting. They even showed me what my Synesthete alphabet and number line look like. Unfortunately, it’s not as vibrant and colorful as I’d hoped. Lots of black, grey, brown, green, gold, rich red and dark blue. You’d think being a creative person, I’d have some brighter colors like pastels, but alas, there was not.
Just glad I got to participate in a study! Cool!
~~Becka
Funny, but I remember not wanting to get married in March because it was an “ugly” month. I wanted to get married in the much “prettier” month of April (March is brown while April is pink), however, I didn’t want to wait any longer before marrying my DH. We married on March 25th, 1995. If I’d just waited one more week, it could have been April 2nd…
~~Becka
I have this really bad its not so much color as it is taste. i taste words, food (this is like tasting a peach knowing its and it tasting salty) also music, numbers, letters and even looking at some people. Im not sure i like having it but its how my world is i grew up with it. i’m only 16 and i found out a few years ago the same way you did.
This is exactly what happens to me! I’ve been reading about synesthesia lately and some people actually, physically see the colors. But I see them in my mind: as soon as I see or think of the letter or number, I see the color. Even some numbers and letters have personalities and genders. While some words and combinations of numbers have certain colors, not all of them do, and sometimes the color of the letter, number, or word does not come as easily as others do. I also do not “see a rainbow of colors when I read” like you said, nor when I do math. I think it’s because my mind is so focused on the math or the story that it doesn’t look at the individual numbers, letters, or words. I’ve never really thought about letters and numbers having colors, but now that I can see it now, I remember that it’s always been this way, ever since I was younger, I just never thought it was important because I thought everyone had it. I also see colors when I listen to music, like what you said. I remember when I was younger my mom would sing songs to me and those songs would have certain colors. I always assumed everyone saw colors when they listened to music, but when I actually asked people, I found that they didn’t.
I don’t see colors when I listen to music and I don’t give words/objects a personality or gender. But I do think of colors whenever I see words or numbers or days of the week or months. Even decades have a color. It’s so weird. I don’t even realize it, it’s something I’ve never actually thought of until recently, I thought everyone did it (like you). When I was a kid, I loved to draw, and every time I drew letters and numbers, I would make them the colors I saw in my mind. It’s just kind of interesting to look at words around you and realize there’s a color for them all. For me, usually words have the color of the first letter, not every letter. So my name, Rebecca Goings – Rebecca is brown, Goings is black. I know. You’d think my brain would have picked colors I actually LIKED. Heh.