Graphical Depictions of my Grapheme-Colour and Number-Form Synesthesia (1530 hits)
Category: Science & EnvironmentalRating: 1.49 on 60 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Thorpe (View user info) at 2007-03-02 22:05:17 EST
First, a couple of other people have posted about synesthesia, most notably Siren, who has a different form of it to me.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/32561
http://www.ubersite.com/m/72524
Hers also seems to be more intense: http://www.ubersite.com/m/62750#1314098
Anyway, I left this on an ETS post a while back:
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2006-10-04 11:32:06 (#)
Ranking: 2
Okay, I read about this guy a bit through wikipedia, got distracted by a link as I usually do and started progressing from article to article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
That's always fascinated me, partly because I thought I might have very mild synesthesia (it affects 1 out of 23 people), associating letters with colours and gender.
Then I saw the section on "number forms", and recognised it immediately as something I experience very very strongly. I've even tried to explain it to a friend before. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_form . Mine is a little different to that (it goes up and to the right) but also includes the clock face for 1 to 12. That's awesome, I'm a synesthete.
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User Reviews
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2007-04-25 12:12:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
almost peanut butter, and Asterix rocks
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2007-04-06 05:30:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I just had to come and find this post to tell you that I think I am causing my daughter to have the number colour thing.
She has a thing called a "Leapfrog Learn and Groove"... one of the activities has buttons that light up whilst saying the number printed on them and the colour. So
One, red
two, orange
three, yellow
four, green
five, purple
and then, if you change the setting it also associates the number and colour with a style of dance!
Maybe you had something similar when yo were a kid?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002C6N16/ciaouk-21/ref=nosim
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2007-03-16 01:34:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ask an English speaker if a word is male or female, they'll probably tell you they have no clue. """
i would also tend to agree with that. people raised in romance languages seem to figure out gender with ease, even if they have no clear indication of it in the new word as opposed to anglos who have a way of fucking it up that makes amusing combination sometimes.
i suppose it's conditionning instead of what you're referring to.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2007-03-16 01:26:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
everybody may be susceptible to at least some form of synesthesia, hence the existence of inter-sense metaphors such as something "tasting sharp", and it's just that synesthetes have a much more heightened susceptibility to those connections being formed.'''
that makes more sense, to me anyway. mind you, i am no scientist, but it sounds a bit too much exclusive to the synesthetes. like they are some kind of mutant x-men.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-15 20:56:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Perhaps you do, Caul, it's reasonably common. A lot of people say they assumed everyone else had the exact same thing.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-15 20:53:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2007-03-16 06:27:37 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Everyone has an imagination, everyone has a system of reference.
We all think of a color when we think of a particular object, letter or number. We all assign gender to objects, to the point where sometimes we have it wrong (in languages that have genders). For instance, many people say in french 'une autobus' when it's 'un'. Every word we say has a 'référant' and emulate a distinct emotion associated with it.
Basically, we all have visual references. I recall it's called MEMORY.
Unless I have your 'condition' too? Nah, I believe it's another case of people wanting to be "super-special". Let me know if that ever gets confirmed by an actual specialist instead of that cheap wiki self-diagnosis.
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You're absolutely wrong. That's what used to be thought about it until a few decades back when some academic devised tests to differentiate between synesthetes and non-synesthetes, it's now an accepted and weell-studied field of neurology/psychology. Look it up.
As a matter of fact, last night there was a documentary on TV about just this, which went through and very accurately described both the shift of synesthesia from the fringe to the mainstream, and also what I've set out here, along with other mostly musical facets of it. The documentary's angle towards the end though was that everybody may be susceptible to at least some form of synesthesia, hence the existence of inter-sense metaphors such as something "tasting sharp", and it's just that synesthetes have a much more heightened susceptibility to those connections being formed. Its evolutionary purpose, one guy was saying, probably lay in being used for the initial formation of languages.
The gender of words in gender-specific languages like French doesn't have anything to do with it I don't think, though I could be wrong - most ideas that get assigned colours/genders/shapes are ones that appear in sequence. Ask an English speaker if a word is male or female, they'll probably tell you they have no clue.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2007-03-15 16:41:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
porn obsessed virgin below
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2007-03-15 16:40:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
talkative fag below
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2007-03-15 16:27:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Everyone has an imagination, everyone has a system of reference.
We all think of a color when we think of a particular object, letter or number. We all assign gender to objects, to the point where sometimes we have it wrong (in languages that have genders). For instance, many people say in french 'une autobus' when it's 'un'. Every word we say has a 'référant' and emulate a distinct emotion associated with it.
Basically, we all have visual references. I recall it's called MEMORY.
Unless I have your 'condition' too? Nah, I believe it's another case of people wanting to be "super-special". Let me know if that ever gets confirmed by an actual specialist instead of that cheap wiki self-diagnosis.
Submitted by Still-Life (user info) at 2007-03-15 15:47:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:34:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
If I tap my right foot twice, I have to tap my left foot twice. And then I think, "Well that wasn't fair. The right foot got to go first. (Or, indeed, the left foot got to go last.) So then I tap my left foot twice, and then my right foot twice. Balance. I've always needed balance and symmetry. Been this way as long as I can remember.
And I'm not a Libra. I'm a Virgo. (And a virgin for about four months.)
I guess what I'm saying is that we're all kinda weird, and the alcohol is starting to kick in.
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I used to be like that until I started playing music and it was pretty much impossible for me to learn guitar right and left handed at the same time. It took too long (Yes, I tried it)
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2007-03-15 14:50:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I wish I had this. It looks cool.
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2007-03-12 13:57:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I agree, it is. Oh well
Submitted by d_prime (user info) at 2007-03-11 23:29:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm still not a thorpe fan.
Just killing, I've loved you ever since you wrote about how much you dislike my views against Animal Rights.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-11 22:03:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Quite possibly, now that you mention it.
Submitted by Off_The_Wagon (user info) at 2007-03-11 21:49:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Are your 4's female because they look like A's?
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-11 01:13:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Nope I'm good
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-11 01:12:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I think Uber just kicked my ass
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-03-05 18:49:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
the numbers 6 and 9 are both male?....FAG!
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-04 01:44:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Except during my nap, which was glorious.
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-04 01:43:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I would have *thought...
proof...I'm drinking again.
not proof...per se...but I am...and have been...all day.
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-04 01:42:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Hmmmm.
Even more interesting. I didn't realize that the words would take on the colors of their component letters. I would have that, maybe, words took on individual colors based on...
...oh fuck it...I'm drinking again.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-04 01:35:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-04 01:22:32 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by vexx (user info) at 2007-03-03 13:31:44 (#)
Ranking: 0
What color is the word "BORING"?
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Actually, if you could answer this, I'd be very interested.
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Well, you can see on the chart now... generally dark (red blue and green) except for the I.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-04 01:34:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by vexx (user info) at 2007-03-03 13:31:44 (#)
Ranking: 0
What color is the word "BORING"?
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ahahaha
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-04 01:22:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by vexx (user info) at 2007-03-03 13:31:44 (#)
Ranking: 0
What color is the word "BORING"?
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Actually, if you could answer this, I'd be very interested.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2007-03-03 16:12:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I tried to read this last night after a long night of drinking and had no idea what was going on.
This is fascinating.
Submitted by brokenlizard534 (user info) at 2007-03-03 15:42:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by DeathJester (user info) at 2007-03-03 15:40:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I don't get this at all, but it's kind of cool.
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-03-03 15:38:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by vexx (user info) at 2007-03-03 13:31:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
What color is the word "BORING"?
Submitted by Slash (user info) at 2007-03-03 10:28:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
That's really cool. I've always had what's described as "Grapheme" (numbers, letters, days of the week, months of the year all have colour associations). Except, I never actually see the colour when I'm looking at the figure in real life, only in my head. I've had the number and letter maps as long as I can remember, but I thought everyone had these to a certain degree... I never thought this was a such a scientifically researched condition.
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2007-03-03 09:52:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This is cool stuff.
Is it really synesthesia if you don't see the colors when you look at the numbers, only when you visualize them in your head? I always had the idea that synesthesia was sensory, but I guess there must be a continuum.
It would be cool if someone had synesthesia where letters or numbers had a smell. A smells like vanilla, B smells like cinnamon, C smells like sawdust, D smells like cunt, etc. You'd get to the letter that smells like vomited-up fettucine alfredo and just gag...
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2007-03-03 09:08:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I may comment further later
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2007-03-03 08:31:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I can barely get my senses to work together at the best of times, I'm glad I don't have this, I'd be a fucking shambles.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2007-03-03 02:37:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Whew! Good to hear.
That's actually a really cool disorder and I want it badly. Disorder? Probably not a disorder, but a pathology, and either way I want it. I am jealous.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2007-03-03 02:27:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
freak
its the lack of meat in your diet
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-03 02:26:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Six has a healthy respect for seven.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-03 02:25:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2007-03-03 02:19:12 (#)
Ranking: 2
Okay, finally, somebody can answer this question. Okay. So did seven really eat nine? I mean since I was a little kid I have been hearing about how seven ate nine, and how for that reason six is afraid of seven, but I have always been hesitant to accept that reality for the fact that I have experienced nines of things. Please tell me, I am dying to know.
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Nope, 7 is too refined, and 9 is too manly, for that to happen. 7 is more of an intellectual than a cannibal, and couldn't eat 9 if he wanted to.
Submitted by AsshOly (user info) at 2007-03-03 02:19:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Okay, finally, somebody can answer this question. Okay. So did seven really eat nine? I mean since I was a little kid I have been hearing about how seven ate nine, and how for that reason six is afraid of seven, but I have always been hesitant to accept that reality for the fact that I have experienced nines of things. Please tell me, I am dying to know.
Submitted by particle_man58 (user info) at 2007-03-03 02:06:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
whoa
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-03 00:54:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Good.
You are an interesting woman.
Submitted by Zebra (user info) at 2007-03-03 00:53:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
ahahaha
just kidding
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-03 00:53:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Been there too, Zebra. Please don't.
Submitted by Zebra (user info) at 2007-03-03 00:51:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Axolotl, information you can use below
http://www.ubersite.com/m/12280#2333827
So you guys couldn't handle the g-spot, huh?
Well, let me tell you about anal...
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2007-03-03 00:47:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This doesn't seem too uncommon. I think I have a sound/auditory one, when I play a piece of music I can involuntarily visualize bizarre transmutations of my PSYCHE leading to HALLUCINITORY GUESTURESE OF APPRECIATEION
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-03 00:07:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-03 00:05:27 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-03 00:01:17 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:57:09 (#)
Ranking: 2
You don't look drunk...
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I'm very experienced.
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When I'm drunk, I damn well make sure I look it.
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Well...you're Aussie. I probably couldn't keep up with you.
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-03 00:01:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:57:09 (#)
Ranking: 2
You don't look drunk...
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I'm very experienced.
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:38:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Coley: OMG WE R LI3K SO SIMILAARR!1!!
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:37:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
lungfish: weirdo.
If I tuck my hair behind one ear, it pretty much has to be the same behind the other.
If I'm washing the dishes or something and get an itch behind my ear or something and scratch it and get my ear wet, I have to touch the other ear so it's wet, too.
I'm the same.
OMG WE R LI3K SO SIMILAARR!1!!
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:34:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
If I tap my right foot twice, I have to tap my left foot twice. And then I think, "Well that wasn't fair. The right foot got to go first. (Or, indeed, the left foot got to go last.) So then I tap my left foot twice, and then my right foot twice. Balance. I've always needed balance and symmetry. Been this way as long as I can remember.
And I'm not a Libra. I'm a Virgo. (And a virgin for about four months.)
I guess what I'm saying is that we're all kinda weird, and the alcohol is starting to kick in.
Submitted by coley (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:26:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I find this kind of thing very interesting.
I don't have any of the same stuff you do, really, except that I see the days of the week, the weeks in a month, and the months in a year and the years in shapes/cycles. Not perfect circles but each unit has its own pattern, I guess you could say. No colors or genders though.
The funny thing about this post is that you could make all that shit up and nobody would know. Of course, that would be totally pointless and involve a lot of work on your part because the kind of person that makes that shit up is likely too lazy to follow through on it.
Submitted by 8track (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:21:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No idea this thing existed. But I always thought the letter M was a mean letter who pushed in front on N in the alphabet, so in my head I always think N comes before M and I'm surprised every time when it doesn't...did he come or what?
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:18:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
K is a feminist
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2007-03-02 23:16:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm just reading the article through, I should have mentioned personalities for letters and numbers (and months).
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-02 22:54:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Very interesting.
Submitted by manic_impressive (user info) at 2007-03-02 22:49:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2007-03-02 22:37:28 (#)
Ranking: 1
i still don't understand why there's more blacks than whites in prison
http://www.ubersite.com/m/99152
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2007-03-02 22:37:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
ok ok i think i get it,
but i still don't understand why there's more blacks than whites in prison
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2007-03-02 22:35:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I see letters as colors, too. And music tones.
You lost me with the numbers part, though.
Submitted by Zebra (user info) at 2007-03-02 22:34:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
ahahahaha
guess again sherlock
Submitted by manic_impressive (user info) at 2007-03-02 22:25:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Ban Williamson.
Submitted by whiskey_jack (user info) at 2007-03-02 22:25:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
You know what this means right? All this means...you're gay. Totally full on balls deep in manbutt gay. It's science.