# Synesthesia: Don't most people have some form of it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2017, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891 "2017-06-13T19:36:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/1 "2017-06-13T19:36:58Z")
This is prompted by a discussion with a colleague who enjoys Internet self-diagnosis (in the past year she has decided she has multiple personalities, Asperger’s, is bipolar, and so on – for all I know she’s right, but she does seem to be on a quest to Be the Very Uniquest of All). So colleague shares with me that she has self-diagnosed herself with “synesthesia thought disorder” and it’s a very rare condition.I told her my thinking works in much the same way and, IMHO, it’s not a thought disorder or neurological disease, it’s the way that many people might make thought connections/see the world. For the uninitiated, here’s an overview of synesthesia: [http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia#Mechanism](http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia#Mechanism) For my own edification: do other Dopers experience “cross wiring” and regard it as a normal human experience? I’ve always seen numbers (“13” is dark orange and “7” is navy blue) and words as having specific colors as does music, every letter of the alphabet and so on; I regard this as a gift, though extreme versions like misophonia would be really awful. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/2 "2017-06-13T19:47:05Z")
I’m familiar with the concept, and have not the slightest trace of it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/3 "2017-06-13T19:50:47Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > For my own edification: do other Dopers experience “cross wiring” and regard it as a normal human experience? I’ve always seen numbers (“13” is dark orange and “7” is navy blue) and words as having specific colors as does music, every letter of the alphabet and so on Nope, not me. When I was a kid, I associated numbers with colors, but that was from doing lots of color-by-numbers books that had the same scheme. Nowadays I don’t remember which color went with which number. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/4 "2017-06-13T19:52:20Z")
I think we all have the potential for it, and some of us have mild manifestations of it, but for most of us… no, it’s not really something that’s part of our day-to-day world. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/5 "2017-06-13T19:53:24Z")
Yeah, I associate letters with colors and patterns, and numbers with emotional states. But it’s a very minor effect; it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that level of it was widespread. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/6 "2017-06-13T19:57:08Z")
Not at all ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/7 "2017-06-13T20:05:28Z")
> [@](#): > > When I was a kid, I associated numbers with colors, but that was from doing lots of color-by-numbers books that had the same scheme. Nowadays I don’t remember which color went with which number. Likewise, except that mine was from a computer programming language where the colors were indicated by numbers. I don’t remember all of them, but 4 is definitely red, and 7 is green. Regardless of where the association comes from, though, it still exists. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/8 "2017-06-13T20:08:33Z")
Not even a little bit. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/9 "2017-06-13T20:12:31Z")
I only experience it when I’m extremely fatigued, and then only in a very limited fashion. (Capital letters take on a red highlight, as if they’re being selectively illuminated with a red laser, and moving shadows become associated with a kind of rushing sound.) ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/10 "2017-06-13T20:19:50Z")
Another person with no synesthesia at all. Wikipedia cites a study that found synesthesia in 4.4% of the population, or 1 in 23 people. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/11 "2017-06-13T20:20:24Z")
Perhaps the potential exists in most people but it’s rarely reported as actually happening. I don’t know if it’s actually synesthesia but the light from some sodium lamps triggers the sensation of an odor for me. Not even an odor I associate with anything else though. I have no basis for saying so but I think it’s more about the proximity of the nerves in my nose and eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/12 "2017-06-13T20:29:00Z")
Not when I wasn’t tripping my ass off. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/13 "2017-06-13T20:34:03Z")
Not in the slightest, though my daughter has it pretty spectacularly. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/14 "2017-06-13T20:36:03Z")
There is a huge difference between synesthesia, and just associating numbers and colors, or whatever else you can name. People who actually suffer from synesthesia, have trouble telling the difference between one thing and another. People who associate this with that, know well that each is a separate thing. I associate certain numbers with certain colors, and I know why. I started school in London England, and while there, read a series of children’s books about trains. The number five engine was green, so I think of green when I hear the number five. Four was blue, and so on. But I don’t SEE blue or green every time I’m presented with a five or a four, I simply have those colors pop up much as Google shows multiple results when you type in a word or two. Again, people with synesthesia actually directly experience the cross wiring. If smells are cross wired, then whatever is crossed with smells, be it sound or color or whatever, will directly cause them to EXPERIENCE smells. The friend who thinks they have all those maladies certainly does suffer from at least one or two, but the one or two are not necessarily any of the ones they think they have. Hypochondria is likely, as well as whatever the problem is, where a person feels that they MUST establish uniqueness at all times, even if self-delusion or lies are required. I’m sure there’s a name for that, but I don’t know what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/15 "2017-06-13T20:40:21Z")
Synesthete here! I have colors for letters, numbers, music, some concepts, and occasionally sound (and very infrequently, taste). Other members of my family have a little, but not as much as I do. It’s not common, but it’s not as rare as people used to think. _Wednesday Is Indigo Blue_, published in 2009, says it may be as high as 1 in 20 people, and that the most common manifestation is visual concepts. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/16 "2017-06-13T20:43:06Z")
Seven is generally purple and three is green. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/17 "2017-06-13T20:49:27Z")
Among those that have a form of synesthesia where numbers evoke colors, are there any common combinations, or do most/all those when see a number(“5”, for instance) see totally different colors? ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/18 "2017-06-13T20:57:37Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Synesthete here! I have colors for letters, numbers, music, some concepts, and occasionally sound (and very infrequently, taste). Other members of my family have a little, but not as much as I do. > > It’s not common, but it’s not as rare as people used to think. _Wednesday Is Indigo Blue_, published in 2009, says it may be as high as 1 in 20 people, and that the most common manifestation is visual concepts. Do the cross connections ever bother you, or do you consider them upgrades? 🙂 I, of course, only have access to my own thinking and it’s difficult to imagine _not_ having these associations. I’m honestly surprised that synesthesia isn’t a common experience (as derived from this sample size of eight respondents :D) . . . just when I thought I couldn’t get any weirder! ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/19 "2017-06-13T20:58:37Z")
AIUI, synesthesia is when one sensory input evokes an unrelated sensation: someone’s ears receive music, and they perceive a smell or taste, for example. They may see numbers on a page, and literally _see_ them as being rendered in various colors. People here seem to be describing [ideasthesia,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideasthesia), in which merely _thinking_ about certain concepts (numbers, letters, words, etc.) evokes other perceptions (e.g. colors, shapes, or emotions) that have no rational connection. I have this condition, in that I associate darker colors and more stressed-out moods with 4,5,6 (or anything from 40-69), whereas 7,8,9 (and 70-99) are bright, warm, happy. 1, 2, 3 (or 1-39) are light, but sterile, bleak, bland. this happens in my mind, even without seeing or hearing such numbers. ---
**Author:** ![greenmario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@greenmario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenmario)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891/20 "2017-06-13T21:00:13Z")
Huh, I thought this sounded really accurate then I realized I was just remembering the pentable colors and their corresponding number that I use when drafting in AutoCAD . So a no for me, just too much time spent at the computer [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synesthesia-dont-most-people-have-some-form-of-it/788891.md?page=2)