Re: Synaesthesia

On Sat, Dec 28, 2002 at 03:03:02PM -0500, Sally Caves wrote:
[snip]
> > - The letter F is blue, but a particular shade of blue that is hard to
> > explain.
>
> For me, all the numbers have colors.  And personalities.  And directions
> they face, and interaction with other numbers.  This helped me with
> arithmatic and multiplication.
Interesting. I never had that benefit. I have numbers like 24 being flashy
red or orange, and 72 a cool, blue-green color. And 13 being slimy green.
And now that I think about it, 6 is orange for some reason, 7 is deep
blue, though sometimes yellow. 5 is black or brown. But none of this
helped me with arithmetic; when I'm doing math, numbers become totally
colorless. It's only when I need to *memorize* a number that I get the
occasional color association.

[snip]
> months, though, are more complicated.  I can see January 1 ahead and to my
> right as I face a starry north.  I am standing on the crest of the weekend,
> Saturday, and the New Year veers sharply to the right where I can see it
> running down a long slope till about May.  Then, June, July, and August, at
> the bottom of the valley, swerve again to the left (to the west), and start
> the uphill climb to December.  The years themselves have this hilly quality.
> The weekends are raised ledges.  Wednesday is at the nadir of the weekly
> valley.
Hmm, now that I think about it... years are laid out in an odd shape for
me, definitely not a straight line. I remember actually thinking about
this once, some time ago. To me, the years from 1 AD to 1980 are laid out
more or less in a horizontal line. The BC years taper off upwards from 1
AD vertically. (The 1 AD association probably has something to do with the
fact I'm a Christian.) Oddly, the year I was born doesn't correspond to
any significant feature of the layout; but after 1980, the years turn
sharply downwards into a squarish space which corresponds to my pre-teen
years. There is a vague left-to-right, top-to-bottom layout of the years
in this period. (The significance of 1980 is probably related to the
bereavement of someone dear to me.)

Then, the years go past a horizontal boundary at around age 10, and 11
through 13 are on a sharp curve beneath the squarish space, turning to the
right; my teen years then go from left to right in more-or-less a straight
line. Then it passes a vertical boundary at age 20, although it still
progresses along in the same direction, up to now.

Then in the future, age 30 is another boundary, and then onwards till
about 100, where there is yet another boundary. Then a vast expanse,
similar to the squarish space, up to a century, and the years beyond that
are obscured in the dark distance.

Now, this isn't the only years layout in my mind; when I'm counting year
numbers (1998, etc.), I have in my mind a slightly different layout. From
1 AD to about 1970 or so, it is the same as the previous layout; however,
this time it continues in a left-to-right direction until it hits 2000,
where it goes over a vertical boundary, and veers off slightly upwards,
but again in a vast expanse like the squarish space. Then it makes a great
arch reaching to the far, far right, which marks year 3000.

[snip]
> > - What color is Wednesday?
>
> A dull orange! <G>
Strange. Although I have no immediate associations about Wednesday, when I
think about it, it's a blue-green color to me. Blue-green (strictly
speaking, somewhere between green and turquoise) to me has special
significance; it is lush, comfortable, lavish and rich. It is one of my
all-time favorite colors.

Somehow, it has etched itself in my mind so deeply that I can actually
recall my first encounter with it: on the cover of a Tintin book (I don't
remember which one, but it was the one featuring the shark-shaped
submarine in a greenish-blue ocean on the cover). I even remember noticing
that it was neither green nor blue (green to me was more of a bright green
than the deeper, duller green in that scene), and being told by my father
that it was "aquamarine".

And when it is the color on a translucent crystal, it is to me a gem
infinitely more valuable than gold. For this reason, I find green and blue
gemstones especially appealing.

[snip]
> > I'm sure most of you are reading this and wondering what I've been smoking
> > today.
>
> No.  Synaesthesia was a hot topic about four years ago on this list.  You'd
> be surprised how many people know about it.  I've heard that some musicians
> (Mozart?) have seen different chords, keys, and notes as colors.
Definitely! :-) Being a dabbler in music composition, I definitely
associate colors and shapes with chords, keys, and notes. For example, the
G clef is mentally bright blue-green, sometimes yellow. The F clef is dull
orange. :-P  However, I do *not* perceive swirling patterns of color when
I listen to or write music, contrary to what some people might think. I
merely make these associations on isolated objects. (Maybe that's why I'm
not a famous composer? :-P)

[snip]
> Synaesthesia should not be labeled a pathology.  Dagnammit, but that annoys
> me.  CONLANGING has also been considered a pathology.  The way the brain
> cross references ideas and sensations is remarkable.
I remember reading an article some time ago that talks about neurological
research, specifically, about memory. It claims that we remember something
better if there are many different associations to it. Things forgotten
are often things with only a scant number of associations with it; fewer
"paths" to a piece of memory somehow makes it more difficult to recall it.
And I remember when my dad was trying to help me with my studies, during
my unfortunate young years when I was a very poor student, he told me to
make up acronyms and mnemonics to help me remember things, and said the
more funny and outrageous the mnemonics are, the easier I'd remember it.
It was certainly true. :-)

[snip]
> moral being without emotion?  How can T'Pal of _Enterprise_?  In other
> words, the book examines how the brain makes mysterious alliances between
> functions and capacities we like to see as separate.  I think that
> synaesthesia is a vital manifestation of this cerebral interaction and
> cross-referencing.
[snip]

While I don't quite disagree so strongly with the separation of the
rational and emotional, I am also quite aware that they are not
cut-and-dried and isolated from each other; rather they function as an
inseparably integrated unit. Any damage to this integration will also
damage the function of each part. And I don't quite like the word "part"
either, because it implies two clearly-delineated blocks glued together.
They are not; they are more like the difference between shoulders and
chest. You can tell the difference between shoulders and chest; yet there
is no line that marks the end of one and the beginning of the other. They
are integral parts of each other. Cutting off the shoulders cuts off some
of the chest, too.  And you're definitely dysfunctional when cut that way!


T

--
I am not young enough to know everything. -- Oscar Wilde