Some people hear music and simultaneously feel it on their face, the taste of food produces rich colors or they perceive written digits, letters and words in color. This phenomenon derives its name from Greek- called synesthesia meaning to ‘perceive together’.
Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which when one sense is activated, another unrelated sense is activated at the same time. Synesthesia is a condition where one sense co-activates other senses. It is estimated that approximately 3 to 5 percent of the population has some form of synesthesia, and it can run in families.
TYPES OF SYNESTHESIA
Grapheme-color synesthesia: It is the most common form where letters and numbers are perceived in form of colors. For example, the alphabet A is likely to be perceived as red.
Spatial sequence synesthesia spatiotemporal synesthesia: perceiving the alphabet, or calendar units such as the year or a week as shapes in space.
Number form: The numbers are arranged in a mental space.
Chromesthesia: The perception of music in shapes and colors. The sound of birds chirping, people talking, can trigger seeing colors.
Auditory-tactile synesthesia: when you hear something, and you can touch it. Hearing music may produce sensations.
Ordinal linguistic personification (OLP): perceiving letters and numbers as personalities.
Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesia: words or numbers have a taste.
Pharrell Williams, a Musician relies on his chromesthesia when making music, saying, “It’s the only way that I can identify what something sounds like. I know when something is in key because it either matches the same color or it doesn’t. Or it feels different and it doesn’t feel right.”
This multi-sensory experience is a miraculous condition which brings out the artistic side of people as they use multiple senses at a time.
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