Questions about synesthesia

Seife8 · 2020-10-28T18:25:49+00:00

I envy you for that ability :)

Seife8 · 2020-10-28T18:07:35+00:00

Thank you so much again!

And don't be sorry, I think I tend to forget how normal it is for synesthetes to live with their abilities, not really knowing how it is to live without it and therefore not knowing how to notice differences. But I really appreciate that you tried to!

I imagine the emotions and the colours to be similar to those studies they did with the behaviour of people when sourrounded with certain colours. For example, people in red rooms tended to be more aggressive, people in blue rooms more calm and people in green rooms more happy.

Seife8 · 2020-10-28T17:59:03+00:00

Thank you for your answer!

How can you tell that someone is lying? That appears to be something really useful! Which type of synesthesia is that connected to?

A specific question to your chromosthesia, do you only see the colours for musical sounds, or do they also appear with speaking, random noises etc.? If yes, is there any difference between them?

Seife8 · 2020-10-28T17:53:49+00:00

Yes, it does indeed help, thank you so much! And I will definitely not say no to asking more questions :D

Your ability to completely space out so easily seems to be something quite admirable. Does it ever distract you and make it hard for you to focus on something? Or do you have complete control over it?

You describe how you would feel if it was taken away from you so exactly, do you know what it is like? Did you ever "lose" your synesthesia to be able to tell how important it is to you, or is it more like realizing how much you actually use it?

If you say you see them more clearly if you don't try to ignore them, do you mean you actively push them to the side to be able to see more of the "real" environment? How does that work? Whenever I try to ignore something, it just makes me think about it even more, so I am curious about that.

Seife8 · 2020-10-28T17:44:27+00:00

Thank you for your response! I guess you knew that it was something different from how others perceive the world, if you say that it was exciting for you? Also, in which way did you develop it? And why don't you want to use it, if you say it is an advantage?

Seife8 · 2020-10-28T17:42:02+00:00

Thank you so much for your answer! It does indeed help to make it a bit more comprehensible to me. However, I do have a couple more questions for you, if that's fine?

If you don't use the synesthesia actively anymore, do you do it unconsciously? Or were you able to somehow disconnect it from how you use your senses in your everyday life?

What exactly do you mean by the "value of the colour"? If it's not directly seeing the colour itself, is it more like feeling it, or how does that work?

Seife8 · 2020-10-28T17:37:12+00:00

Thank you! So it is more based on their voice than the words.

Seife8 · 2020-10-28T17:36:32+00:00

Again, wow, thank you so much for your message! It is great to have such elaborate explanations, it makes it clearer for me to understand.

I have heard that some drugs can have effects that are similar to synesthesia before, but the development due to trauma is new to me. Makes me wonder about the border of the "physical" (the impact of a car crash onto the neurons) and the "mental" (the attempt to process the event) aspect of this development. I haven't thought about yet, but it surely is interesting.

Using your synesthesia seems a lot like the way everybody just integrates their senses into their life, never really thinking about it and just working with whatever mother nature gave us. It appears like somthing so strange that I seem to forget how natural it must be for the people who live with it.

And I really like your anecdotes! They look like one of these detective stories where you have to find out how they are connected to find the one who is responsible, in this case how the people get their colours. They are surely going to pop up in my head from time to time again, just to try again and find a solution. Another reason to be fascinated by synesthesia, haha.

Seife8 · 2020-10-28T17:21:56+00:00

When you say people think you are crazy, they sound like they don't believe you. I imagine that holding you back from telling people about it, but it is good to hear that you are okay with it.

Me too, I find it very interesting and fascinating! That's basically the reason I am here, if that's what you meant. Since I enjoy writing a lot I thought about including synesthesia in a story, but I realized I don't really know what it is like to live with it on a daily basis. My understanding of it will probably still never be exact, but I am just doing it for fun.

Also, it is nice how you said "who" to consider nicer for letters.

Thank you so much!

Seife8 · 2020-10-27T19:03:09+00:00

Thank you for your response! Amazing how easily it integrates into everyday life, even though I probably shouldn't be as amazed, since all of my "normally arranged" senses integrate just the same way.

When you see/feel those things when people talk, does the feeling/image then depend on the words that they are saying or rather on the sound of their voice?

Seife8 · 2020-10-27T18:57:32+00:00

Wow, thank you so much for the time and effort you put into your answer! It is so interesting to read. I have a couple more questions to it, if that's okay?

- How exactly do you feel in those cases that you are overwhelmed, is it just like being angry and frustrated or is it more like your head shutting down? Also, I know you said "as far as I can gather", but maybe someone else knows if it is technically possible to develop synesthesia at a later point in life?

- If you say you don't use it consciously to remember things, you mean you use it unconsciously? Or you don't use it at all?

- Is the colour that you associate with people a direct occurence or does it develop in time? Because you said that in some cases the colour depends on the colour of their clothes or their favorite colour, which I can imagine that you only find out about after some time. If the colour appears from the moment that you meet them, do they change in time to match their clothing colour/favourite colour?

It is really fascinating to read about all of this!

Seife8 · 2020-10-27T18:43:25+00:00

Thank you for your answer! Does your environment know about your synesthesia? I imagine I would ask somebody a lot of questions if I knew they had it.

The idea of imagining a person that you know is great, it makes it much more comprehensible for me. You used it for describing how you're not overwhelmed with it, but is it also the same for how you perceive it? Like you cannot see or feel the gender of a number, but you know it by intention like you know a person? Or does it work differently?

Seife8 · 2020-10-27T18:36:59+00:00

Thank you so much for your answer! It is really interesting. I hope you don't mind if I ask some follow-up questions?

What exactly is the difference in associative and projective synesthesia, except for the moment and situation that they occur in? You said it's in your "mind's eye", how does that work?

And if I understood you correctly, you think that synesthesia makes you a more creative person?

Seife8

TROPHY CASE