Maybe you can feel the taste of poetry
You can see the color of sadness
Smell out the floral shape
Such a difference
Make your contact with the world more intimate.
When people can only see the gentleness of the sunset, you can smell the unique fragrance of the sunset, and your world is not only colorful but also fragrant.
But what does it feel like? What kind of superpower would anyone have?
In fact, people who have this phenomenon are called synaesthetes.
Synesthesia, also known as synaesthesia, is academically defined as an involuntary experience of connection across sensory pathways.
Specifically, the stimulus of one sensory channel can continuously lead to the phenomenon of perception on another or more other sensory channels.
Sensory channels: The human body processes information and systems that produce sensations after receiving stimuli, and the more common classifications are visual channels, auditory channels, olfactory channels, tactile channels, somatic sensory channels, etc.
Usually a stimulus signal triggers only one sensory channel (olfactory channel).
People who experience synesthesia may actually "hear colors," "see sounds," and "taste shapes, as romantic literary expressions do." However, only a very small number of people are able to maintain a state of synesthesia uninterruptedly every day, and such a group of people are academically called "synaesthetes".
Many synaesthetes begin synesthesia in childhood and are surprised to learn for the first time that others see the world differently than they see the world.
About 5% of people experience this cross-sensory connection, and studies have shown that this connection is more prevalent in creative people.
From the 19th-century composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov to the contemporary artist David Hockney to pop star Lady Gaga.
A large number of artists have had extraordinary experiences of synesthesia.
Sister Ga once said that she could "hear music of all colors at the same time." Musicians, including Jean Sibelius and Duke Ellington, said they experienced synesthesia.
Theoretically, any connection between the different senses could be a unique type of synesthesia, such as: sight, taste, hearing, smell, etc.
It's worth noting that most synesthesia experiences are one-way.
For example, people who hear certain sounds that trigger images of particular colors in their minds often cannot produce those sound sensations in turn after seeing a particular color. Therefore, the synesthesia of sound color and the synesthesia of color sound are two different types.
Synesthesia is neither an illusion or an illusion, nor a memory connection nor a condition.
In fact, its essence is an involuntary, spontaneous phenomenon of sensory connection.
Just as dogs can smell odors that humans can't smell, and cats can see things that humans can't see, people who have produced synesthesia phenomena are just normally using their perceptual systems to feel the world that most people can't feel, which is a very normal phenomenon.
Synaesthetes are more likely to become artists because of their unique ability to perceive the world.
Melissa McClecken, a 27-year-old female artist from Kansas City, Missouri, was able to express her voice in color with a paintbrush, and it spread all over the Internet.
She described it this way: "After the music started, I saw a swirl of color, different ivory clouds, pink came into my sight, and as the song progressed, the golden color of the guitar suddenly flashed in front of me, and I really didn't take drugs..."
Of course, she didn't take drugs, but she had a more sensitive and dreamy sensory world, which somewhat made Sister O envious.
To date, the medical community has confirmed at least 80 synesthesias. It tends to manifest as a fusion of one or more sensations.
"Word-color synesthesia"
When reading letters, the parts of the brain that are related to color recognition come alive and can see different colors. It is said that this is the most common and most studied synesthesia. 4 out of every 100 people have this ability.
"Timbre Synesthesia"
Hearing each note and tone, different colors will appear in front of your eyes.
"Word-to-word synesthesia"
When you hear or read a word or a name, a strong and unique taste will come out of your mouth.
"Sound- Taste Synesthesia"
You can taste sweet, bitter and sour in the song, and when listening to the piano, you will see The black and white Oreo.
"Visual-emotional synesthesia"
The cartoon character in the cartoon sticks to his tongue, and his tongue will be uncomfortable. If the cartoon character is hit by a car, he will not be able to sit still, and if there is a powerful force, it will push him off the chair.
"Concept Synesthesia"
Some synaesthetes see abstract concepts, units of time, or mathematical formulas such as abstract shapes floating in space outside their own bodies.
"Mirror-reflective haptic synesthesia"
Being able to perceive other people's emotions and physical sensations, and even other people's painful feelings, as if it were happening to oneself.
If a person with synesthesia does not have exactly the same synesthesia if there is a glyph-color synesthesia, in the eyes of patients with this synesthesia they see the corresponding colors of the digital fonts.
When they hear the word "roll," some people may see black, while others may see blue.
According to studies conducted in the United States, women are more likely to develop synesthesia, and the number of female synesthesia patients in the United States is more than 3 times higher than that of men. And the proportion of left-handed people with synesthesia is higher, with 40% of them having relatives who also suffer from synesthesia.
How do ordinary people feel the world of synaesthetes without synaesthetic reactions? As a result, some people have applied the synesthetic effect to music products and combined with new interaction methods to bring users a new experience.
01
Sound Shirt
Sound shirt
The Sound Shirt is a haptic wearable device that helps deaf people feel music on their skin.
Designed by fashion tech company Cut Circuit, this "sound shirt" brings music to life through a range of tactile sensors built into the material.
30 miniature sensors embedded in the cloth of the clothes translate the sound into a tactile language in real time, and the violin on the arm and the drum on the back can make the deaf feel immersive.
02
Houat - music lights
Houat is a "portable" LED light that can decorate the environment to generate a wide variety of colors.
Using original technology, the series offers a set of lighting scenes: graphic, color, dynamic, calm or poetic. Thus, users can change the environment color based on sound, music, as well as stereo sound.
03
GammaMOON
Musical all-round sensory orbital neural instrument
The latest version of GammaMOON (Musical Full Sense Orbital Neural Instrument) has a capacitive interface that provides multi-sensory gamma stimulation through audio, vision, haptic, and haptic feedback.
Studies have shown that even in neurocognitively healthy individuals, interactions with gamma instruments can enhance cognitive function and sensory perception while increasing attention. The contact arrangement allows patients and performers to create high-level musical abstractions and follow traditional symbolic melodies.
The combined action of multiple senses not only reinforces the musical experience itself, but also gives the music new semantics.
In the field of music creation, the creation method of synesthesia not only brings a new interactive experience, increases the fun and performance of the instrument, but also lowers the threshold of the instrument, so that everyone can better appreciate the fun of music.
Although about 5% of people worldwide experience synesthesia, synesthesia is still a niche experience compared to the general perceptual experience.
If synesthesia is just an abnormal, strange hallucination, and has no research value, it is naturally a big mistake, and existence is reasonable.
Human beings need to explore the spirit and curiosity, and synesthesia has a broad research significance.
Synesthesia is a window into perception, thought, and language. Synesthesia may provide a useful source of insight for studying other difficult problems of consciousness.
Although it has received more attention from psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, and perceptual philosophy, there are still some difficult problems to continue to explore.
For example, what does color synesthesia have for color theory? If synesthesia is a real perception, what is the relationship with other perceptual experiences, and the two constitute a continuum, or is synesthesia another real perception in addition to the general perceptual experience?
Synesthesia may help us understand how we perceive our world.
Some of the pictures in the article come from the Internet
Editor-in-Charge / Dong Yin Ding
Typesetting, Writing / Li Hao