Hi! I have commented on here before, but I've done some more thinking about my brain, and this is just a pile of all the stuff it does. I posted on Reddit first, but nobody has commented yet. I think that I maybe have little bitty baby synesthesia, or just a really strange brain that makes weird connections. Can you please help me figure out which?
I think the main thing is that so many things have a vibe. Months, days, letters, numbers, names, songs. So many things. When I think of something, for example the month April, I get a vibe from it. I will try and match the vibe to a color, and some things feel really wrong, but others feel fine. It is rare that something has an obvious color though. Like April is pretty obvious to me, it's a shade of bright yellow, and if I try to match it with like red or something, it just feels so wrong. Like April is not red! But other things like Wednesday, they don't really have an obvious color, just a vibe that I can't place. And Olivia Rodrigo's song Drop Dead has a color too. It is like a darkish navy blue. The problem is that the album cover from the song is like all light blues and pinks. It just feels very wrong, because I am looking at that picture, while the song does not match the cover. Her other song Stupid Song, also has a vibe, but I don't think it's strong enough to match with a color. Also fun fact! Olivia Rodrigo has synesthesia! Some things have pictures too. Like in Stupid Song when she sings certain lyrics, pictures pop up into my head. They are always the same, and I think it happens almost every time I hear the song, unless I am zoned out or not really paying attention to what's around me. It also happens when I read. I sort of see the scenes that I am reading, and I can get pretty immersed into it. I don't think this is hyperphantasia though, because I have done some research, and I know I just have normal phantasia. There is some other synesthesia type stuff too though. One is that when people say names, or I think when I think them too, I see them spelled out like subtitles in my head (ticker tape?). It only happens sometimes though, and only with some names. I feel like it is happening less often now though.
Oh, and also when I was really young someone told me that his name was Michael, and I always remembered his name because of the image that came to mind with that name. (Turing gears) I think that every time someone would say his name that image would come up. Not sure though, because it was many years ago. I still can kind of picture the wheels and gears! I know it happened with at least one other name, but not sure about if it ever happened again.
Also my comment was too long, so I am going to make two parts. (this is number 1)
Basically, this one time I was super upset, and so mad, but even more sad. It was super intense, and thinking about it, I kind of just knew what color the feeling was. A blue so deep that it was kind of screaming.
When I think about eating something specific I can kind of taste it. Some things are stronger, like lemons. And lemons linger longer than something like a cookie. Although I just realized that I can't really taste chocolate. And with Jolly Ranchers I can kind of feel the candy pressing into the roof of my mouth. I have to be focusing to notice this though.
Also when listening to songs, they just go up and down. I don’t really know how to explain it, but maybe it’s the pitch? I think that it is more complicated than that though. Most of the time I just know how it’s going up and down, but if I really focus I can sometimes see like a line in my head that is moving left, and like going up and down in a curved motion. Like you know the chart thingies in hospitals that monitor your heartbeat? I think it’s like that, but instead of straight lines that make triangles it is more curved like a semi circle.
Sorry I wrote like A LOT! I know that most of it is probably not synesthesia, but you would know better than me, so idk. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me, and countless others figure out the mess in our brains <3
So I think that when people are just talking I see images of stuff in my mind. Like if someone is talking about a dream they had or something, I visualize what they are describing, and sometimes I can remember it a long time later. Like 5 years ago my friend thought that someone in my class was named Canoe, and whenever we are talking about that, or I just think about it I see the same picture of a canoe in my head. If it is not about that though, and just a normal canoe nothing happens. And once I saw this picture from behind some friends sitting o the edge of this little cliff thing, and later when I was thinking about that I thought about the sounds and smells that they experienced, and I think I could almost hear/smell it. And I saw what they must have been seeing in that moment too. It's just that in like little day to day conversations I see the things they are talking about in my head.
“Months, days, letters, numbers, names, songs with vibes”: Just feeling a “vibe” about these things, even if the vibe includes a colour that goes particularly well with it, wouldn’t normally be synesthesia. Your perception would have to correspond to one of the existing types of synesthesia described. How you describe your reaction to the colour for April is coherent with a synesthetic reaction, but really if you only have a colour for one month that wouldn’t be enough to determine that you’re a synesthete.
Song-colour is a type of synesthesia but again, a person with this type of synesthesia would have colours for many songs, not just one or two. If you often have this kind of experience, you should perhaps think about whether you do have more colours for other inducers.
Seeing images in your mind’s eye when you listen to music isn't considered synesthesia, and picturing the scenes you are reading in a book isn’t connected to synesthesia at all.
What you say about names and ticker tape probably isn't synesthesia either, as names are just one aspect of speech and ticker tape happens with speech or thoughts in general. I think that as names can often be spelled differently and sometimes have different variants, it’s probably just a logical manifestation of trying to match a written word to a name as you hear it, so you can remember it better.
Very interesting your turning gears for Michael! I have to say it doesn’t sound like synesthesia either though, but rather a one-off association you made with that name when you heard it that time, and which you never forgot. Synesthesia on the other hand creates numerous associations with many, or all, names or words, and it tends to be clearly abstract rather than pictorial. It certainly is curious, though, and I wonder why you associated Michael with gears. It seems rather logical somehow perhaps, maybe the way the name sounds and looks when it’s spelled, the c-h-a-e do seem to have the same vibe or even sound as gears do!
Also, the colour for an emotion is very unlikely to be synesthesia too if just happened once for one single emotion.
Thinking of foods and tasting them (especially lemons! they are especially evocative in that regard!) is called gustatory imagination and isn’t a type of synesthesia either.
Your curved lines for music might be worth focusing on to try and determine whether it’s more of a mind’s-eye visual (which if it’s automatic and consistent could be synesthesia) or just a logical association with pitch. If you concentrate on the music in a dark space, relax and give it all your attention, what is the visual experience like?
Your 3rd comment doesn’t include anything that would be considered synesthesia.
Okay! Thank you so much for taking the time to read all of that! I will try and do the thing you suggested with the music and visual experience. I will also think more about the months. Thanks again!!
Hi! I have commented on here before, but I've done some more thinking about my brain, and this is just a pile of all the stuff it does. I posted on Reddit first, but nobody has commented yet. I think that I maybe have little bitty baby synesthesia, or just a really strange brain that makes weird connections. Can you please help me figure out which?
ReplyDeleteI think the main thing is that so many things have a vibe. Months, days, letters, numbers, names, songs. So many things. When I think of something, for example the month April, I get a vibe from it. I will try and match the vibe to a color, and some things feel really wrong, but others feel fine. It is rare that something has an obvious color though. Like April is pretty obvious to me, it's a shade of bright yellow, and if I try to match it with like red or something, it just feels so wrong. Like April is not red! But other things like Wednesday, they don't really have an obvious color, just a vibe that I can't place. And Olivia Rodrigo's song Drop Dead has a color too. It is like a darkish navy blue. The problem is that the album cover from the song is like all light blues and pinks. It just feels very wrong, because I am looking at that picture, while the song does not match the cover. Her other song Stupid Song, also has a vibe, but I don't think it's strong enough to match with a color. Also fun fact! Olivia Rodrigo has synesthesia! Some things have pictures too. Like in Stupid Song when she sings certain lyrics, pictures pop up into my head. They are always the same, and I think it happens almost every time I hear the song, unless I am zoned out or not really paying attention to what's around me. It also happens when I read. I sort of see the scenes that I am reading, and I can get pretty immersed into it. I don't think this is hyperphantasia though, because I have done some research, and I know I just have normal phantasia.
There is some other synesthesia type stuff too though. One is that when people say names, or I think when I think them too, I see them spelled out like subtitles in my head (ticker tape?). It only happens sometimes though, and only with some names. I feel like it is happening less often now though.
Oh, and also when I was really young someone told me that his name was Michael, and I always remembered his name because of the image that came to mind with that name. (Turing gears) I think that every time someone would say his name that image would come up. Not sure though, because it was many years ago. I still can kind of picture the wheels and gears! I know it happened with at least one other name, but not sure about if it ever happened again.
Also my comment was too long, so I am going to make two parts. (this is number 1)
PART 2!
ReplyDeleteBasically, this one time I was super upset, and so mad, but even more sad. It was super intense, and thinking about it, I kind of just knew what color the feeling was. A blue so deep that it was kind of screaming.
When I think about eating something specific I can kind of taste it. Some things are stronger, like lemons. And lemons linger longer than something like a cookie. Although I just realized that I can't really taste chocolate. And with Jolly Ranchers I can kind of feel the candy pressing into the roof of my mouth. I have to be focusing to notice this though.
Also when listening to songs, they just go up and down. I don’t really know how to explain it, but maybe it’s the pitch? I think that it is more complicated than that though. Most of the time I just know how it’s going up and down, but if I really focus I can sometimes see like a line in my head that is moving left, and like going up and down in a curved motion. Like you know the chart thingies in hospitals that monitor your heartbeat? I think it’s like that, but instead of straight lines that make triangles it is more curved like a semi circle.
Sorry I wrote like A LOT! I know that most of it is probably not synesthesia, but you would know better than me, so idk. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me, and countless others figure out the mess in our brains <3
Sorry thought of something else! Part 3 I guess.
ReplyDeleteSo I think that when people are just talking I see images of stuff in my mind. Like if someone is talking about a dream they had or something, I visualize what they are describing, and sometimes I can remember it a long time later. Like 5 years ago my friend thought that someone in my class was named Canoe, and whenever we are talking about that, or I just think about it I see the same picture of a canoe in my head. If it is not about that though, and just a normal canoe nothing happens. And once I saw this picture from behind some friends sitting o the edge of this little cliff thing, and later when I was thinking about that I thought about the sounds and smells that they experienced, and I think I could almost hear/smell it. And I saw what they must have been seeing in that moment too. It's just that in like little day to day conversations I see the things they are talking about in my head.
“Months, days, letters, numbers, names, songs with vibes”: Just feeling a “vibe” about these things, even if the vibe includes a colour that goes particularly well with it, wouldn’t normally be synesthesia. Your perception would have to correspond to one of the existing types of synesthesia described. How you describe your reaction to the colour for April is coherent with a synesthetic reaction, but really if you only have a colour for one month that wouldn’t be enough to determine that you’re a synesthete.
DeleteSong-colour is a type of synesthesia but again, a person with this type of synesthesia would have colours for many songs, not just one or two. If you often have this kind of experience, you should perhaps think about whether you do have more colours for other inducers.
Seeing images in your mind’s eye when you listen to music isn't considered synesthesia, and picturing the scenes you are reading in a book isn’t connected to synesthesia at all.
What you say about names and ticker tape probably isn't synesthesia either, as names are just one aspect of speech and ticker tape happens with speech or thoughts in general. I think that as names can often be spelled differently and sometimes have different variants, it’s probably just a logical manifestation of trying to match a written word to a name as you hear it, so you can remember it better.
Very interesting your turning gears for Michael! I have to say it doesn’t sound like synesthesia either though, but rather a one-off association you made with that name when you heard it that time, and which you never forgot. Synesthesia on the other hand creates numerous associations with many, or all, names or words, and it tends to be clearly abstract rather than pictorial. It certainly is curious, though, and I wonder why you associated Michael with gears. It seems rather logical somehow perhaps, maybe the way the name sounds and looks when it’s spelled, the c-h-a-e do seem to have the same vibe or even sound as gears do!
Also, the colour for an emotion is very unlikely to be synesthesia too if just happened once for one single emotion.
Thinking of foods and tasting them (especially lemons! they are especially evocative in that regard!) is called gustatory imagination and isn’t a type of synesthesia either.
Your curved lines for music might be worth focusing on to try and determine whether it’s more of a mind’s-eye visual (which if it’s automatic and consistent could be synesthesia) or just a logical association with pitch. If you concentrate on the music in a dark space, relax and give it all your attention, what is the visual experience like?
Your 3rd comment doesn’t include anything that would be considered synesthesia.
Okay! Thank you so much for taking the time to read all of that! I will try and do the thing you suggested with the music and visual experience. I will also think more about the months. Thanks again!!
Delete