In what universe is A yellow??? Everyone knows it’s red. 
It’s funny, it’s common for synesthetes’ A’s to be red and their C’s to be yellow, and it used to drive me nuts in discussions because for me it’s the other way around.
Sounds more like a medical condition.
Is it common for people to have synesthetic tendencies as a child, but to eventually outgrow them? I remember in kindergarten our teacher gave us an assignment to color in the numbers on a worksheet with the same colors as the ones she’s posted on the bulletin board (In retrospect the assignment was probably as much about learning to follow instructions as it was about learning numbers and colors). I completely ignored the instructions and just colored them all in the colors they were “supposed” to be in my mind. And I was very specific. To me 7 was supposed to be a blueish green color, but as I only had the basic Crayola 8 pack, I colored the 7 with both the blue and green crayons in an attempt to get the right shade. When the teacher asked why I had done that, I couldn’t understand why she didn’t get that 7’s just obviously were blue-green. And that a red 7 (or whatever color we were actually instructed to color them) was just wrong.
But I don’t do that anymore. I don’t remember what age I stopped seeing numbers in specific colors, but I definitely no longer do. All the numbers on that calendar on my cubicle wall are just black (except the holidays and paydays, but only because they’re actually printed in different colors).
Some synesthetes apparently did develop associations from the colors of refrigerator magnet letters, but scientists are still exploring the link.
Everything else has a color so why shouldn’t letters and numbers? Our brains don’t need training to associate colors with things.
Yes, many people lose synesthesia around puberty.
I guess, but that’s not how I originally learned the term, I suppose. Wikipedia says:
Bolding mine. So I guess I’ve always thought of synesthesia to be projective synesthesia, and not associative synesthesia. The latter sounds to me more like something called ideasthesia.
The synesthesia message board I was on just called it “projected” or “associative” synesthesia, with both kinds being perfectly valid.
The book Wednesday is Indigo Blue, which was published in 2009, says that “projected” versus “associative” is an outdated distinction, and that synesthetic experience is a whole spectrum rather than binary. Still all valid.
I haven’t been keeping up on the latest research, I must admit.
This reminds me of a story about a young child who had begun coloring everything he did in black, nothing else. Troubled, the teacher arranged a conference with the child and his parents and asked him about all the black. He replied, “All my other crayons are broken”.
Dennis
It was bad enough when they put the alphabet in math, thankyouverymuch!