This page contains all the readers’ comments on the “Figurative images as a synesthetic concurrent” article, received between 2022 and 2025.
Comment by: Anonymous. August 19, 2022 at 8:07 PM
Hi- I'm not exactly sure whether or not to label this as
synesthesia.
Every time I listen to a song I enjoy, I see a single static
image. It's always a scene with no movement and is always consistent with the
song.
I've also had a strange association with words, specifically
plants connected to animals. Someone says cactus, and I think bird, or someone
says turtle and I associate it with fox.
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). August 21,
2022 at 9:44 PM
Hi! No, I don’t think either of them are synesthesia. The
one about the songs is very interesting, being a single static image, I
personally think it could be something similar to the “music video” effect,
where most people tend to develop the images the song suggests to them into a
series of images, different viewpoints or some kind of progression or
narrative. But from what you say it sounds like the same effect: you think of
that image as related to that song, and then it “sticks”, because it is very
memorable. I presume that you see the scene in your mind’s eye and not
physically as an image appearing as a flash when you have your eyes closed, is
that right?
I love the plant-animal connections and I have no idea why
you have them. It sounds like you are just perhaps a very efficient associator
in that area: when you associate something it sticks! It isn’t any known type
of synesthesia though, as synesthesia would normally involve at least one of
the concepts – the inducer or the concurrent – being a more abstract concept.
Comment by: Anonymous. November 20, 2022 at 12:25 PM
I don’t know if this counts as synesthesia because these
associations always have a history behind them, but musics and concepts -
people, places, memories, games. I have an entire album that specifically
reminds me of one tram line because I once listened to it when I first used
that line. Or some musics that I can’t listen without thinking of someone
because they once told me it was one of their favorites. So music is the
inducer. Does that count as synesthesia ?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). November 20,
2022 at 12:57 PM
Hi! No, it wouldn't be considered synesthesia.
Auditory-visual synesthesia would be more like a similar feeling of a strong
association, but it would be more abstract, usually colour or shape, and also
it isn't usually possible to trace back the visual concurrent to where it comes
from. This is related to you having made associations from memories you have
that you've linked to the particular music. Enjoy them, though, because they
can be very powerful, nostalgic and evocative!
Comment by: Anonymous. February 16, 2023 at 7:49 PM
I'm not sure what to call this but listening to a song can
invoke a very vivid, detailed "music video" in my mind with amazing
movements involving characters, shapes and/or lights that dance along with the
music. Details are complex and woven together with various notes, cords, etc.
The "video" has a theme or emotion and is unique to the song itself
and is same when the same song is played again. It is like I am watching a
beautiful, choreographed dance with a storyline and can be quite breathtaking.
I wish there were some way to depict what I see in my mind. Perhaps this is
visual hyperphantasia, though I also 'see' colors associated to numbers and
letters.
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). February 19,
2023 at 8:34 PM
It sounds like synesthesia and visual hyperphantasia are
combining for you, as you are a synesthete, so the shapes and the lights
dancing along with the music could be part of your synesthesia –
timbre-colour/shape perhaps – while the beautiful choreographed music video is
something different, but equally breathtaking (or more!). I would say the best
thing to do is just let yourself be carried along by it, enjoy it and don’t
worry about putting a name to it. I used to have similar experiences to this, and
in a way it was a pity that I separated it all out so much into what was
synesthesia and what was other experiences that I kind of lost all the part
with the landscapes and characters. I’ve since discovered more nuances which I
love equally, but I think if you have these experiences and are able to combine
them, then make the most of it and enjoy it!
Comment by: Anonymous. October 22, 2024 at 2:11 PM
As an artist/activist, I have painted perhaps 3000 portraits
over many years time of “disappeared” people, victims of state terrorism. On
the losaparecidos.com website you can find about 1000 of these. I work from
photos online, digital images sent to me by relatives, etc… and usually these
are black and white photos, often in quite bad shape. In any case, I paint my
response and have strong sensations specific to the person I am viewing (the
photo of the person). Once I was told this is face color synesthesia that
causes me to respond this way but I do not know if that is documented as.
possible with photos. I also get color sensations if, for instance, giving my
partner a massage, that clue me in immediately to what part of their body is
hurting, black for the most intense area, into violets, blues… then reds…still
sore, etc. White is painless. Any thoughts? Briancarlsonartist@gmail.com
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). November 7,
2024 at 3:43 PM
What absolutely beautiful portraits! It’s incredible how
you’ve brought them to life, your colours seem to make them 3-dimensional as
compared to the photographs. I'm sure you’ve helped their relatives find peace
with having them take their place on your site.
So I understand you choose the colour for the background
(and sometimes the face itself) according to the colour sensation you perceive
as you look at the photo, which might come from their personality, mood or
emotion in the photograph perhaps, or you just get a strong feeling of colour
without knowing why? Yes, that would certainly be considered synesthesia.
Although it’s better known when perceiving actual people in real life, it can
occur with people shown in photos and videos too, it just depends on the
synesthete really. I think the photographic images have a strong emotional
component, so maybe even your colour reaction could even be a product of the
specific emotion they make you feel?
The colour sensations on giving a massage would also be
considered synesthesia too, I think you could consider it a kind of pain-colour
synesthesia but with other people’s pain rather than your own, this being much
more uncommon than colours experienced for the synesthete’s own pain, which is
a relatively frequent type of synesthesia.
You could check out these pages:
https://www.thesynesthesiatree.com/2021/03/person-colour-synesthesia.html
https://www.thesynesthesiatree.com/2021/03/pain-colour-and-pain-shape-synesthesia.html
and perhaps have a look at this one too:
https://www.thesynesthesiatree.com/2021/03/personality-colour-synesthesia.html
and
https://www.thesynesthesiatree.com/2021/03/emotion-colour-and-emotion-shape.html
I’ve included you on my list of linked Synesthete Artists if
that’s OK with you:
https://www.thesynesthesiatree.com/2021/04/artists-with-synesthesia.html
Comment by: Fal. November 6, 2024 at 2:01 PM
Hi, I have suspected I have a type of audio-visual
synaesthesia for a while, because certain songs, certain types of music, etc,
create a really strong sense of movement within a 3D space, some have a much
stronger sense of that than others. Some create a sense of rising upwards, like
in a slow elevator but on a bigger scale. Some have parts within it that create
beautiful patterns of movement like when you write letters with a sparkler
stick on fireworks nights. Some music does not have any movement/spacial aspect
as all and feel "flat" or two dimensional like a flat image with no
distinctive colours (sounds can have distinctive colours too). I've discovered
that I like a vocalist's voice if they have a bright colour and their voice has
certain shapes it can make in my mind.
I was reading the part above where it describes "music
videos" and I wondered if it was related to that, but I think my
experience is different. I do often make music videos in my mind but often they
are more similar to the sound visualiser type of image that windows media
player used to have, where music creates shapes and colours, and also
directional movement in a 3D space. But those images can inspire actual music
videos. Like one song called "Firedancer" by Poets of the Fall created
very strong senses of movement, including a soaring arc, the feeling of flying
in a loop like a rollercoaster, an explosion of energy and light, all kinds of
things.
This might seem odd, but a black metal band called Dimmu
Borgir has a few songs which trigger this effect in me, notably "I Am
Sovereign" created a sense of travelling slowly upwards, then forwards
through an infinite open space. "Sorgenskammer Del II" creates a
sense of undulating figure 8s. One of their old vocalists, ICS Vortex, has an
amazing voice which creates so much colour and shape when he sings.
Sorry for rambling, I just never really got to talk about
this before and it's cool to know it's a recognised thing! :)
Comment by: Kaldi. June 6, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Hello, I want to ask about my experience from young age. I
"felt" swirling lights with various colors on my inner-brain
"screen", I don't know how to explain it properly, but it feels like
there's a screen between the front of my brain and the back of my eyes. the
images' shape is not strict, just swirling, swaying, rolling lights of colors
on my "screen"; it appears usually when I listen to Ravel and
Messiaen's classical music-their music makes the most clear colors and lights.
Of course there's other music make those images in my brain, like Beethoven's
6th symphony-it appears into fluorescent green and light yellow. The color
constantly appears for more than 20 years from the first time I listened to
that particular music. The colors does not come on to my sight, but I felt
them, saw them in my brain from the time I was young. Is it the proper
experience of audio-visual synaesthesia? I haven't thought of the possibility
that I could be the kind of synaesthesia person at all. I told about the colors
just normally but my friends shocked about my experience, so I found about this
sense and came to this site for the first time:))
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). June 19,
2025 at 7:55 PM
Hi, Kaldi! Yes, from what you describe I think you have
synesthesia. I think it is because the colours you perceive seem to be
consistent, i.e. you have the same or a very similar experience with the same
music, they have been around since you started listening to those pieces, and
you “feel” the colours or perceive them in your mind’s eye (that’s quite
typical of synesthesia, rather than seeing them physically, even though they
clearly have their own position on a kind of ”screen”, as you say). Many synesthetes
do perceive shapes with the different sounds or timbres but some just have
colour sensations, like you.
Comment by: Anonymous. June 22, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Hi
Im wondering if some of what im experiencing is synesthesia.
I feel strong sensations in my body when i hear any form of music, and
sometimes other sounds. It can feel like my skin is tingling (not goosebumps),
my chest is heavy, my head feels heavy or any other sensation. Sometimes it
feels like my chest could burst open - then i switch songs and the sensation
switches. The sensation is stronger if im more focused on the music - or if im
experiencing strong visual stimulation. I also experience a lot of the music
video effect. It happens instantly when music plays. The imagery never changes.
Often its not for the entire song, but during the parts with strong physical
sensation. The core thing with that visual part is the coloring in the
image/video. If i try to change the “color-filter” over the visual it feels so
wrong, it makes me very uncomfortable. I have recognised that i usually only
really enjoy music if the colors i see around me match the colors i associate
with the song or the mood. For example: some songs for me is the close up image
of a light blue, light pink sky with white clouds. What im trying to say is
that i don’t really see colors alone when i listen to music , but i still have
an instantaneous color association to the color-combo in an image + the
physical sensation and the feeling of any other color association with the
sound being completely wrong. The visual part is the particular tone of colors
in the image/video, not really the visual image it self - if that makes sense?
Reply by: Pau (The Synesthesia Tree author). July 1, 2025
at 8:09 PM
Yes, that makes sense! And what you’re experiencing is
synesthesia, plus some extra experiences, so I think you have the best of all
worlds there :D
The colours you associate with different
songs/timbres/sounds and the fact that any other colour would be wrong for that
music, that is typical song-to-colour synesthesia (or perhaps timbre-colour or
some other type of chromesthesia, or more than one of those, there isn’t enough
information to go by from what you say, but you could probably identify the
type fairly easily.)
If you get the “music video” effect with songs, that
wouldn’t be considered synesthesia (even if it’s very consistent), but being
able to mix that effect with your synesthetic colours for music is something
not everyone (or not all synesthetes) can do and it can really enhance the
experience, so I would say to continue making the most of it.
Especially if it’s combined with tactile sensations produced
by sound. From what you say they would probably fit in with auditory-tactile
synesthesia, as they’re varied and specific to particular sounds, and more than
just the typical frisson or other effects that most people get.
Your experience sounds similar to mine, although I kind of
lost the ability to combine the 3 experiences so well. But the visual and
tactile combination can make for a kind of sensurround thing if you deeply
relax, I was often crossing over into lucid dreaming with it at one stage, they
were very strong experiences that I’m glad I had the chance to live out. You
could experiment and find sounds or music that give you the degree of
relaxation that could enhance what you’re perceiving. Everyone’s different, so
I would say to explore the possibilities music gives you and your synesthesia,
and see where it takes you.
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