“Sight” or "vision" can generally only be considered an inducer of synesthesia when it refers to certain specific concepts that can be visually perceived.
Basically,
the following concepts can trigger a synesthetic concurrent through sight:
. Colours
. Shapes (geometric figures, etc.)
. Items in a sequence, when perceived visually (for example looking at the different chess pieces might evoke a colour association for each one)
. Graphemes and printed words
. Movement (of people, animals, objects or machines, and also motion observed in GIFs, videos, etc.)
. Physical contact (hitting, stroking, etc., in the case of mirror touch)
. People (in personality-colour, person-colour and perceved emotion-to-colour synesthesia)
What probably gives rise to the synesthetic response in all these cases is the concept of what is seen rather than sight or vision in itself or as a sense (which ties in with the notion of ideasthesia).
Go back to the Synesthesia Finder to choose a more specific visual trigger
This page last updated: 24 December 2021
I’VE HAD EXPERIENCES OF LOOKING AT A TREE, AND FEELING THE TEXTURE OF THE BARK IN MY FINGERTIPS, EVEN THOUGH I WAS LOOKING AT THE TREE THROUGH A WINDOW. SIMILARLY, I CAN CALL UP THE SCENT OF A FLOWER OR VEGETABLE JUST BY THINKING ABOUT IT, ( ROSE, LILY, NASTURTIUM, FRESH CORN, SPINACH). IN SCHOOL WHEN ASSERTING THIS I WAS TOLD IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE ( IT WAS A PSYCHOLOGY CLASS IN HIGH SCHOOL). I’VE ALSO HAD AN EXPERIENCE DURING ACCUPUNCTURE THAT I DESCRIBED TO THE ACCUPUNCTURIST AS HAVING A COLOR. SHE THOUGHT IT INTERESTING. IF WHAT I’VE BEEN EXPERIENCING IS SYNAESTHESIA, IS IT OF ANY VALUE TO OTHERS?
ReplyDeleteHi! The touch and smell sensations when looking at something aren’t considered synesthesia, but what you're describing is certainly a very cool thing to be able to do, and it isn’t very common to have these experiences regularly like you do, which I suppose is why it was misunderstood in your class. It can be called "olfactorisation" when it happens with smells, and you could consider both phenomena you mention to be types of hyperphantasia, tactile and olfactory.
DeleteThe acupuncture experience is not always considered synesthesia, although it might be if you noticed such experiences regularly and could consistently relate each colour and/or shape you experience to a specific trigger such as pain or an emotion, rather than them being just random and/or occasional. Otherwise it would probably be a different phenomenon. There are a few paragraphs about this on the Tree, so you could take a look at it if you haven’t already.
https://www.thesynesthesiatree.com/2021/02/tactile-visual-synesthesia.html and look about halfway down the page for the title “Acupuncture and massage can sometimes trigger colour experiences.”
I’d also recommend you visit the links on that page to Carol Steen’s work, as she has written (and painted) quite a lot about her own acupuncture-related colour experiences. Also, if you’re interested in acupuncture-colour accounts, you could read the book by Wendy Mass, “A Mango-shaped Space”. It’s aimed at young readers but any age enjoys it (I did!), it’s a good book, on a synesthesia-related theme. She talks quite a lot about the acupuncture thing in that book, and the fabulous experiences it can create. They don’t happen to everyone, of course. But if you are having them then it’s certainly something you could focus on to enjoy it and find out more about it.
Interesting! I can also feel textures on my fingertips when looking at things. I have seen color during acupuncture too. I can also "bring up a scent" of something by thinking about it- but this is something I assumed everyone can do.
DeleteActually, the information you give is incorrect.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely that’s a synaesthesia a
Type that is called visual tactile synaesthesia, you can a bidirectional version, in that tactile sensations, In this case, Acupuncture can generate visual images which may or may not have a t textural component too. This can be with without mirror. Touch synaesthesia. Which can also include, emotional synaesthesia. For example, feeling the emotions or the sensation of the tree a.k.a. the trees feelings/information field for better want of a word.
Visual spatial/ kinetic synaesthesia can also occur with this cluster given a visual association that can have multiples. If you have others together, often, you’ll then also have kinaesthetic synaesthesia too. The part where you are describing where you think of something visual can induce the tactile sensations, this is often associated with hyperphantasia, it’s like an eidetic memory, video kind of visual memory that can be as real as reality at self photo real in fact. This can lead people to re-experiencing the taste or smell through the hyperphantasia like a haptic experience where it’s not just the visuals, but the sensations you have videotaped that can come back at the same time. Hyperantasia is not a a form of synaesthesia but can often colour car as an additional visual sensory difference.
*but can often co-occur (last sentence)
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