Grapheme-Color: The Effects Of Synesthesia On The Brain

Tell me what red tastes like. That statement seems kind of off the wall, at least to 95.6% of the population, but the other 4.4% consider it completely normal, and could answer. Some people actually can taste colors. This is known as Synesthesia. Synesthesia, a condition where the connections in the brain over lap, makes a person’s senses combine. Having the ability to hear colors, smell numbers, and taste sounds can have its benefits. Synesthesia may prevent brain decay that comes with old age and help aid in recovery from a brain injury, help improve learning skills, and increase artistic and innovative ability.

The medical world refers to these people as Synesthetes (“Causes of Synesthesia”, 2014). Many people think that this could get classified as a disease or a disorder; however, because it doesn’t inhibit the person who has it, so they considered it a phenomenon. Synesthetes’ brains actually are anatomically different then

There have been over 60 variations reported, even though this discovery didn’t happen all that long ago, in medical time (Brang & Ramachadran, 2011; “Causes of Synesthesia”, 2014). Grapheme-color has become the most common known variation, this happens when someone pairs a color with a number or letter (“Causes of Synesthesia”, 2014). For example, a Synesthete would see a black letter as black, but in their mind they experience blue (Eagleman & Cytowic, 2009). Most people go there whole life not knowing that they have experienced this phenomena. Some common traits of Synesthesia: confusing left and right, having a poor sense of direction, having frequent migraines, amazing memory, a perfectionist, creative, usually more ticklish then the average person, and also seem like an introvert (“Causes of Synesthesia”, 2014). If a person experiences some of these symptoms, they could look up tests online that tests to see if someone has