Althouse: "I have his form of synesthesia, and having watched the video I was impressed by how effectively he conveyed the experience."

March 22, 2012

"I have his form of synesthesia, and having watched the video I was impressed by how effectively he conveyed the experience."

"In listening to a piece of music (or playing one) the colors sometimes cycle through very quickly, and sometimes cycle very slowly. I don't "see" them with my eyes, the way the video changes color. Instead, I 'see' the colors with my mind's eye."

12 comments:

Naomi said...: That's a "thing"? I didn't realize it was unusual or a big deal.; 3/22/12, 10:48 PM
Wince said...: I swear that happened to me the first time I got stoned smoking pot.; 3/22/12, 10:50 PM
bagoh20 said...: I hate that tune.; 3/23/12, 1:24 AM
Robert Cook said...: I wish I had synesthesia.; 3/23/12, 7:04 AM
Scott M said...: Anyone remember the show "That's Incredible"? That was the first time I'd ever heard of the phenomena and, for some reason, I never forgot about it. Sort of an extremely low-grade super power.; 3/23/12, 7:09 AM
Carol said...: jesus that blue-reverse font is almost as bad on my eyes as black-reverse. Is that a Tripod page circa 1998?; 3/23/12, 7:29 AM
Patrick said...: Glenn Reynolds has talked about having this phenomonon. I only sort of agree with Robert Cook. I do think it would be interesting to experience it, but I think I would find it distracting all of the time. I listen to a fair amount of jazz, and can't imagine what that would produce.; 3/23/12, 8:21 AM
ark said...: This video reminds me of the following, which I might call "virtual kinesthesia:" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9lpy6UROF4; 3/23/12, 9:24 AM
Scott M said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/23/12, 9:30 AM
Be said...: Oh thank you for this!

Am wondering how common a thing this is? When practicing scales as a kid, used to see flats as moving towards cooler colors and sharps as warmer. A circle of fifths looks kind of like a color wheel.

It seems stronger for me in spoken/written language.; 3/23/12, 11:15 AM
Methadras said...: I have 5 sense synesthesia and I do experience this phenomena as well. I've described it here before. However, with music, the colors are associated with geometric patterns of varying complexity as they spin in front of me in my minds eye and the colors gradiate into a very smooth transition and in multiple hues. Also, the smell and the taste of the notes varies along with the colors and their shapes. It's hard to explain and express sometimes.; 3/23/12, 2:18 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Interesting.; 3/23/12, 3:11 PM