Latest Synesthesia Stories
Most people can see their body's movement in the absence of light
In the perceptual condition known as synesthesia, unrelated sensory experiences such as color are triggered by ordinal stimuli such as numbers, letters and months of the year.
In the 19th century, Francis Galton noted that certain people who were otherwise normal "saw" every number or letter tinged with a particular color, even though it was written in black ink.
Someone with the condition known as grapheme-color synesthesia might experience the number 2 in turquoise or the letter S in magenta.
The Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman once wrote in his autobiographical book (What do you care what other people think?): "When I see equations, I see letters in colors - I don't know why [â€¦] And I wonder what the hell it must look like to the students."
New research indicates that the integration of senses and functions in the brain is common.
They show that one of those genes in particular has a long evolutionary history, as evidenced by the fact that it plays a role in pain sensing in flies, mice and humans.
For as many as 1 in 20 people, everyday experiences can elicit extra-ordinary associated sensations.
- Withering but not falling off, as a blossom that persists on a twig after flowering.