Posted by fallsfall on March 8, 2004, at 7:49:46
In reply to Synaesthesia, posted by EscherDementian on February 20, 2004, at 9:05:14
[For Babblers - definition of Synesthesia adapted from the book referenced below:
Synesthesia means 'senses coming together'. The character in the book sees letters and numbers in color, and also sounds in shapes and colors. Imagine that the wires in her brain are crossed, not literally of course. In her case, her visual and hearing sensese are linked. The visual cortex in her brain is activated when her auditory cortex is stimulated. Seeing colored letter and number - lexical synesthesia - is the most common form, followed by colored hearing. Other combinations occur, as well. One woman tastes buttered popcorn every time she hears her husband's voice. There is a man who feels the sensation of objects being placed in his hands when he tastes certain foods.
Synesthesia is not a disease, not even really a problem; it is a "condition". It can make certain things in one's life more difficult, the character has trouble with math and foreign languages (the english word is one color and the foreign translation is a different color).]
Escher,
I work in a library and a woman came in a couple of months ago looking for a Young Adult Fiction book called "A mango-shaped space". She started telling me about Synesthesia. Turns out that she has Synesthesia. It sounded facinating to me, so I had my library order the book. The patron was going to find a copy somewhere else to read, so I don't have a record of who she was (or what other conditions she might have). I'm about halfway through the book (fairly typical YA fiction, but the description of what she sees is intriguing). The book suggests that perhaps Everybody is born with Synesthesia, but most of us lose those neural connections when we are very small.
You might want to check the book out!
Falls.
poster:fallsfall
thread:316021
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040308/msgs/321958.html