Man Sees, Hears Words in Color

iWon News ^ | 03/18/2002 | PAUL RECER

[grimalkin]

For one middle-aged man, "two" looks blue, but "2" is orange. And while "3" appears pink, "5" is green.

The man has synesthesia - a phenomenon in which printed words and numbers burst with color, flavors take on shapes and the spoken language turns into a mental rainbow.

For some people with synesthesia, say researchers, a newspaper is never black and white - it's red, orange, blue, beige, pink and green all over.

"This is an alternate perception," said Thomas J. Palmeri, a Vanderbilt University psychologist and the first author of a study reporting on the tests given to one man. "He is normal - a highly successful, intelligent man and he suffers no problems from this unique wiring of the brain."

The study, appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explores multi-chromatic world of a man identified only as W.O. The man, a university professor of medicine, did not respond to requests for a direct interview.

Palmeri said researchers are starting to realize that W.O. is just one of a large number of people with synesthesia, many of whom take joy in this rich symphony of sensations.

"They often experience a great deal of pleasure from this altered perception," said Edward M. Hubbard, a synesthesia researcher at the University of California, San Diego.

For W.O., his synesthesia helped make learning the complex words of science easy - when the colors weren't distracting him from study, Palmeri said.

"He sees a palette of different colors when he reads and sometimes he is more interested in how pretty the page looks than what the words say," he said.

In the Proceedings study, Palmeri, Randolph Blake and other Vanderbilt researchers put W.O. through a series of tests.

Palmeri said that W.O. sees all printed words in colors, sometimes letter-by-letter and sometimes syllable-by-syllable. Short words have a single color while long words may have many.

When W.O. was given a list of 100 words printed in black and white, he said each one had a specific color. When the list was presented a second time, weeks later, W.O. gave most words the same color, missing only some that were either beige or off-white.

"These associations are highly reliable," said Blake. "W.O. says that the colors have stayed the same all his life and our observations lend credence to the claim."

In W.O.'s view, each numeral, except for zero and one, has a color even if printed in black and white.

When the researchers presented an image of the number 5 made up of much smaller number 2s, W.O. saw the whole image as a five and it appeared green. However, when he looked at the small 2s that made up the image, each of those numerals were orange.

When the numbers were written out - such as two - they assumed another color.

And the hues prompted when W.O. hears words are generally the same as those he sees when the words are printed, Palmeri said.

Hubbard said the experiments with W.O. match some performed in his lab that show synesthesians see colors when others see only black and white.

Just how W.O. perceives this color is difficult to understand, the researchers said.

"He tries to describe it to me and I still can't appreciate it. It's like trying to describe colors to a person who can't see them," said Palmeri. "How could you describe color to a blind person? You really can't."

Some researchers believe that about one in every 25,000 people has synesthesia, Palmeri said. Some studies suggest it may be much more common - closer to about one in every 200 people, Hubbard said.

One theory holds that the perception is inherited. W.O.'s mother, maternal grandfather and great uncle also experience synesthesia, but none of his siblings or children do.

Hubbard said that so little is known about synesthesia because many people won't admit it. Others, however, are surprised to learn that they are unusual.

It's believed that synesthesia occurs because some parts of the brain that perceive color are very close to parts to process speech, language and music, Hubbard said.

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On the Net:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org/

Synesthesia: http://www.ncu.edu.tw/~daysa/synesthesia.htm

Vanderbilt: http://exploration.vanderbilt.edu

[Sloth]

I can't point out any recent experiences along this line, but I know that as a child I always associated colors with certain numbers, etc... For example, '9' always struck me as being yellow. I wonder if I could have some very mild form of this.

[r9etb]

I'd heard of this before and I'd give my eye-teeth to experience it.

You probably have, at some level.

For example, have you ever experienced the "texture" of a musical piece?

Or perhaps you've done a math or logic proof and seen the problem laid out in "spatial" form, or perhaps different approaches to the problem have a different color or texture to them.

[Cleburne]

I wonder if it has anything to do with the shape: perhaps it is just the brain's perception of a number, of an amount, that lends color to it. I wonder if seeing a number written out, such as "two" in place of "2", would have the same affect? Perhaps stored information in the brain is wired so that when outside impulses come in, color perception is merged with- from within, perhaps from some sort of memory, so that the brain sees the color as an outside thing- but is really stored information.

[Flipyaforreal]

Cool. I have this to a very mild degree. Since I was very young I always saw numbers as certain colors, esp. 1 thru 10. It expanded to days of the week but that's about it. I never knew there was a name for it! Throw any number my way and I can tell you what color it is (to me at least). It doesn't affect the way I read though, at all, just something in the back of the mind. :)

[reformed_dem]

When the numbers were written out - such as two - they assumed another color.

That appears to be the case.

[Revelation 911]

I wonder what curse words look like.

wonder how he percieves two things

good pizza

sex

heres how he sees Chelsea

[mommya]

Wow - this is fascinating stuff. I (like another poster) woder if our ancient ancestors could have had these traits. The article mentioned it being hereditary - could it be that entire groups - or a specific group of people in the past had this condition? Maybe something like this could explain some of things about the lost civilizations we know so little about.

I saw a show once explaining a bit of how LSD worked in the brain, and it had to do with receptors - usually we have some of the receptors or combinations of them open (or on) in our brains, but when on LSD many more receptors and combinations of them are open (or on) allowing us to percieve much more. I have never understood though - is any of it reality - that extra stuff one perceives while on LSD? (I know we could get into a deep discussion of what reality is, but you know what I mean.)

I too would love to experience what these folks are - for just a while anyway.

[wimpycat]

I think my question may have been already answered in the article. He did say, for example, that "5" had a different color than "five", so I suppose foreign numbers and letters would assume different colors. I was just curious, if maybe, for example, "dos", and "deux" had the same color as "two".

[wimpycat]

Since I was very young I always saw numbers as certain colors, esp. 1 thru 10. It expanded to days of the week but that's about it.

I don't think this is the same thing, but in my mind, the days of the week are arranged in an elliptical pattern. The days progress counter-clockwise. The months of the year I see in a circle, with January being around the top right part of the circle (at roughly 1 o'clock), and the months progress counter-clockwise. My husband thinks it's weird, but that's how I've always thought about the days of the week and months of the year.

[M. Thatcher]

Your daughter must have been fun to live with because of her observations...I bet it made her childhood interesting and challenging to you...

Yes, it was fascinating — once I figured it out, which I finally did when she was in fifth or sixth grade. Until then, some of the things she said were just bizarre to me, especially when she was younger and so insistent about it. Once I figured it out, and once she realized other people didn't "see" what she saw, it was less frustrating for her. Until then, she thought I was just dense.

The only part about it now that is REALLY weird is her perceiving music as seasons. One just cannot ride in a car with her without her punching the radio buttons every two seconds. "I can't listen to that song now in March, it's an August song." or "How can you listen to that, it's a fall song?" Mostly she burns CDs to take on trips so all the songs are the right season. Keeps the peace.

I joke all the time that she's going to have to find a very understanding husband because of what we call "the music thing."

[andysandmikesmom]

Thanks for the reply....It will be interesting for you in the future indeed, to see what her future husband may think of this, and how he will cope with it..I suspect, it will be something he will find fascinating, to go along with whatever else attracted him to your daughter...it will also be interesting to see if she has any children, and if this is an inherited trait, if any of her future children also have this ability...you should keep us posted on this...

[Libertina]

You probably have, at some level.
For example, have you ever experienced the "texture" of a musical piece?
Or perhaps you've done a math or logic proof and seen the problem laid out in "spatial" form, or perhaps different approaches to the problem have a different color or texture to them.
I'm rolling around the floor holding my sides. No, I HAVEN'T experienced any of the above... hence my buring desire to do so. LOL But thanks for describing something ELSE I haven't yet known! :) You are obviously one of those in the synesthesia camp. Oh well... but I HAVE "seen" things that have happened or do happen in the future. (just a very little.) (Really)

[Libertina]

Thanks for sharing that charming story, M. Your daughter sounds like a sweetie. I just got back on my computer today and it was a heart warmer. Lsee speculated that perhaps Picasso was a member of the synesthesia group. If so, I've never read anything about him discussing the effects. Is it overwhelming with so much going on? Obviously your daughter doesn't seem to feel so.

Another thing, you know how people use words with high emotive qualities such as "honor" "patriotism" "treason." Does you daughter hear these words in distinct camps of negative and positive? LOL I wish I could just sit and pick her little brain! I have so many questions. This is truly a fascinating subject.

[knews_hound]

Comeback of the day award.

Cheers,

knews hound

[knews_hound]

I also thank you, this has been one of the most facinating discussions I have read in months.

Ignore the usual suspects that think drugs are involved.

I also have an unusual ability and would not like anyone accusing me of drug use.

Cheers,

knews hound

[Texas2step]

"I can't listen to that song now in March, it's an August song."

Yeah! My wife does the same thing, only with her, it's clothes. I cannot figure it out. "You can't wear that on Easter, that's a fall suit."

Or, she's looking for something to wear, and I make a suggestion, "I can't wear that in July, it's a winter dress". It was a black sleeveless dress. Unbelieveable!

[M. Thatcher]

Actually, your wife is normal. The song thing is weird, though.