![]() Analyses drawing on published research suggest that there may be 75 or more kinds of synesthesia.ĭescribing them all here would quickly get repetitive. However, researchers often categorize distinct types of synesthesia based on which sensory or cognitive processes seem to “overlap”. Just how many different kinds of synesthesia are there? In one sense, you could say there are hundreds of millions, since it’s rare for two people to have exactly the same synesthetic experiences. A 2005 overview of individual differences in synesthesia estimated that about 10% of synesthetes are projectors, while the other 90% are associators. An associator synesthete might think of the idea of “Wednesday” as fuzzy and friendly, but they wouldn’t actually feel its hair brushing against them when looking at a Wednesday on a calendar. Instead, they might have strong mental links between particular sensations or concepts. If they were looking at this page, they might see the individual words or letters brightly highlighted in different colors.Īssociators may not have such strong, external perceptions. Projector synesthetes may experience vivid sensory effects that appear to exist in space rather than in their minds. Those with synesthesia can also be classified as projectors or associators. This suggests that at least some kinds of synesthesia may be exaggerations and modifications of mental associations that are present at low levels in most people. Experimenters have found that synesthetes are more likely to link sweet and sour tastes with high-pitched sounds, while bitter or savory tastes tend to go with lower pitches. That said, certain broad categories of association may be more common than others. Although two individuals might both experience tastes in response to sounds, one may link the musical note C# with a lemony flavor while the other thinks it’s more like vanilla. Synesthesia often appears to manifest in very different ways in different people. If you’re interested in finding out whether you might have synesthesia, you can test yourself online using the standardized Synesthesia Battery. For instance, someone who perceives different numbers as different colors might have an easier time spotting 2s mixed in with similar-looking 5s - the “out-of-place” numbers may stand out as clearly as blobs of orange in a field of blue. These tests rely on experimental findings that synesthesia can impact the speed at which people recognize certain patterns or make perceptual judgments. But researchers have developed tests that seem to reliably distinguish between people with and without synesthesia. Some people may have a hard time believing that this experience could be real. This may not always be the case, though a 2012 paper reported that as many as 17% of synesthetes might experience changes in the type, frequency, or intensity of their non-typical perceptions over time. A person with synesthesia (AKA a synesthete) might perceive the letter “H” as rough and sandpapery and the letter “P” as rubbery and flexible, and those associations may stay the same throughout their entire lifespan. These associations are often highly stable over time. Another individual might feel that different numbers have different “tastes”. To use one common example, a person might experience visual perceptions whenever they hear sounds. ![]() In other words, there’s a kind of “overlap” or “cross-talk” between different senses. Scientists who’ve studied synesthesia (or synaesthesia, as it’s spelled in the United Kingdom) estimate that it affects roughly 2-4% of the population.Ī person with synesthesia experiences consistent, involuntary links between one type of stimulus and an unrelated type of sensory perception. Though it may sound like something from a fantasy novel, it’s a real neurological phenomenon. ![]() ![]() Readers who haven’t heard of synesthesia may be taken aback by the idea that some people may feel sounds or hear colors.
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