Hatrack River Forum: Twins & Synesthesia

This is topic Twins & Synesthesia in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :

I've been trying to figure out the name of this certian disorder, maybe not a disorder.

its discribed as visualysing music with colors and shapes, or smelling colors.

it was explained that wires where crossed with the senses.

the reason im asking is that it was talked about on the discovery channel about a mathmatical savant that saw numbers as diffrent shapes. the reason this piqued my curiasity is that I have a character that sees other peoples emotions as colors and textures.

[ May 19, 2005, 04:13 PM: Message edited by: Chris Kidd ]

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

synesthesia

Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :

[Hail]

Thanks Kwea [Blushing]

now im off to bed.

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

There are a few people here at Hatrack who suffer from it. You might want to change the name of this thread to reflect the name, I am sure they wouldn't mind discussing it...

again, that is.... [Big Grin]

Kwea

Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :

I changed the title

if anyone else wants to discuse it that would be great. beacuse i've only had my own oppinions on this and i would love new ideas.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

I thought this was a shout-out or hey-you or heads-up to Syn. [Smile]

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

Is this a disorder? And do people "suffer" from it?

I always thought it sounded like an extra sense.

Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :

KQ, I did too! And I couldn't figure out why it looked like I'd clicked on it before.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

Well, if it interferes with your functioning in the world...

Some people, for instance, hear sounds when they see colors (although the opposite is much more common), and I can see that that would be annoying.

Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :

I was under the impression that it was a disorder in the sense that when someone "smells" blue they suffering a delusion of sorts since blue doesn't really have a smell.

Although I guess that is debatable from a philosophical standpoint. [Dont Know]

Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :

Well, our resident Synesthesiologist, Synesthesia should be able to help [Smile]

-Bok

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

My step-mother says that numbers, 1-10, have a color. When she sees or hears "5", for instance, she sees red. That's her very mild form of synesthesia. I don't know that it's ever caused her trouble, though.

Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :

yea a friend of mine sees colors in letters, it causes some confusion when you use T for tuesday and thursday because they'll just be the same color to her.

Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :

As I said earlier i have a character that see's emotions as diffrent colors and textures.

if you havent guessed he's a tad bit empathic. he can't feel other peoples emotions unless he has direct physical contact.

I was wondering if anyone thinks this fits under the definiation of synesthesia.

Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :

I have a question about perfect pitch and synesthesia.

I think I must have mild synesthesia because different musical notes have different colors for me. For instance, A is yellow, C is red, G is green, and B is blue.

I have finicky perfect pitch. When I hear a note, I can tell you what it is 100 percent of the time. But if the instrument you're playing is moderately out of tune, I may guess wrong about what note you're playing. And if you ask me to sing a specific note, I'll get it right about half the time.

What's weirder is that I am much better at guessing out-of-tune instruments if the instrument is a piano. I have played the piano for 16 years.

So the other day I started wondering if my "perfect pitch" is actually synesthesia mixed with my mind's organizing sounds into color boxes. In other words, when I hear yellow, I know it's yellow, so it must be A. But the note halfway between A and A# doesn't have a color in my mind--it's a non-note. So I don't know how to classify it.

Likewise, I imagine my sense of colors for musical sounds is most strongly influenced by the sounds I'm most familiar with--piano sounds.

How plausible does this explanation sound? I never could explain why I have almost-perfect pitch before. It seems like everyone else either has it or they don't. I have it . . . sometimes.

I guess I'm just a freak. [Smile]

Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :

I just developed mild Synesthesia at times for short periods, but I think it was my imaginitive, artistic mind and its uphorias...

*Notices LSD on desk.*
*Wisely states: "Ah!"*

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

That sounds like synesthesia to me.

Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :

quote:
I thought this was a shout-out or hey-you or heads-up to Syn. [Smile]

Me too!

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

Suffer from [ROFL]

I was hoping it was a shout out too. If you need info, email me.
I-
See colours in music depending on the key and smell songs and also the people that play or compose it.
Every person has their own scent.
certain concepts have smells too.
And there are other things.

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

So am I right in guessing you consider it a positive experience? I know you posted on it before, but I couldn't find it.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

quote:
Every person has their own scent.

I thought that was normal...

Posted by Vána (Member # 6593) on :

From what I remember of talking with her about this before, she means even people she's never met - that she can smell the musicians when listening to a recording, for example.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

And that's not normal?

Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :

That sounds really neat, actually.

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

It's sort of a in my head sort of scent, not a physical one.

Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :

like if you hear mozart your remined of the smell of like pepermint.

Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :

Synesthesia, have you ever read Perfume by Patrick Suskind? I think you would enjoy it. It's about a man that smells people and believes everyone has a scent. Ironically enough, he has no scent himself.

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

Some people consider it a disorder...I guess it depends on how much it interferes with their daily lives, if it does....

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

Huh. I guess not everyone smells people like I do. And "in your head scent" is exactly what it is. Huh.

I also smell memories. Each memory has a smell, and it's not necessarily the smell that was there, or a smell of a person in the memory; just that my memories, especially the most powerful ones, have a smell associated with them.

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

Sent is one of the strongest senses tied to memory, actually, so that part of it makes complete sense.....or would it be sents... [Wink]

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

"Scent"?

And that commercial is getting really annoying.

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

What commercial?

It only gets in the way when I see pink and orange together.

Posted by MyrddinFyre (Member # 2576) on :

It's a commercial for one of those manly body deoderant things... I think it's Axe. There's a guy walking past two girls at a party holding something above his head to squeeze by, and when they smell his armits they get all excited and they freeze-frame it to say that scent is the strongest sense tied to memory.

Posted by Grisha (Member # 6871) on :

This reminds me slightly or "Hart's Hope", when Orem is practicing becoming a Sink, and mentions things like tasting colors, and hearing scents. Though it has been a while since i read it, so maybe I am remembering wrong.

Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :

Thanks for all the replies. now i know i have the basic concept right.

Since i Started this topic I'll start discusing something else.

Does anyone here know any twins or has twins, or is a twin?

Posted by Olivetta (Member # 6456) on :

Belle has twins, but they aren't identical twins. What sort of twins are you after?

Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :

yes. Two good friends growing up were identical twins. One of them is currently our housemate. And my chiropractor has an identical twin. They share adjoining medical office, the twin is a podiatrist. One of my co-workers has fraternal twin daughters. It is amazing, one looks like her mother the other like her father.

AJ

Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :

quote:
What sort of twins are you after?

My character is a fraternal Twin, he has a twin sister other than gender diffrences they look identical.

twins run in my family. my gandpa had a twin, and the aunt i live with had a twin. both where Identical twins. my aunts twin died before they turned 1 years old. Ive allways been intrested in twins and thier connections to each other.

Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :

lol, coming home from camp one year (down a very winding mountain road) one twin kept complaining about his stomach being upset. We stopped at a rest stop, and the other one promptly threw up. The two I know have very intense dogmatic personalities though they've chosen opposite paths in life and now only get along when they discuss the several hobbies that they have common passions for.

AJ

Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :

My father is a mirror image twin.

I went to school with triplets. Two were identical twins with blond hair and blue eyes and the third had brown hair and brown eyes.

I also worked with twins that were identical except for eye color. One had green eyes and the other had blue eyes.

Identical twins are much closer (psychologically) than fraternal twins. And unless all the kids in the family look alike, fraternal twins would look no more identical than normal brothers and sisters. Like the fraternal sisters that I grew up with. One was blond (almost white) and the other had orange hair.

Actually, sometimes it's difficult to tell if twins are fraternal or identical.

Did you know that Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are actually fraternal twins? Most people don't, but I don't understand why. They've never looked alike to me.

Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :

My second cousins once removed are fraternal twins, both girls. I worked with a set of identical twins and a set of mirror image twins when I taught daycare-- and I could tell them apart, even from a distance, even though they dressed identically most days (uniforms, you know). Nanny 911 next week is going to be about a family with five boys-- a set of triplets and a set of twins.

Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :

Yeah, there are very few twins that you can't tell apart once you know them. Most people just don't take the time.

Posted by Stray (Member # 4056) on :

My mother is an identical twin, though she and my aunt are in their 50s now and age has made them look somewhat different from each other (by which I mean, I don't think they could swap places and have no one notice, though they did that well into their college years).