Hearing Colors, Tasting Shapes

Scientific American ^ | April 13, 2003 | By Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Edward M. Hubbard

[vannrox]

Cool. I can see some pretty amazing designer recreational drugs or medicines that can help with those with learning disiabilities.

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[StriperSniper]

an artifact of drug use (LSD and mescaline can produce similar effects)

Damn! How come I never found the good stuff that did that?!?!;-)

[Herodotus]

ooooh, thanks for posting this. I don't read Scientific America, but I do have this condition!

[StriperSniper]

ooooh, thanks for posting this.

Thank vannrox, I didn't post it.

but I do have this condition!

Well, since you seem excited and not depressed about it, I'll say - Is there ANYTHING that can be discussed here that somebody hasn't done or have?

;-)

[Walnut]

disabilaties? I like it!

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Bump to read later.

[Billthedrill]

I did have synesthesia a few times in the 70s but I don't do acid anymore.

[vannrox]

.

"... Consider two drawings, originally designed by psychologist Wolfgang Köhler. One looks like an inkblot and the other, a jagged piece of shattered glass.

When we ask, "Which of these is a 'bouba,' and which is a 'kiki'?" 98 percent of people pick the inkblot as a bouba and the other one as a kiki. Perhaps that is because the gentle curves of the amoebalike figure metaphorically mimic the gentle undulations of the sound "bouba" as represented in the hearing centers in the brain as well as the gradual inflection of the lips as they produce the curved "boo-baa" sound.

In contrast, the waveform of the sound "kiki" and the sharp inflection of the tongue on the palate mimic the sudden changes in the jagged visual shape. The only thing these two kiki features have in common is the abstract property of jaggedness that is extracted somewhere in the vicinity of the TPO, probably in the angular gyrus.

(We recently found that people with damage to the angular gyrus lose the bouba-kiki effect--they cannot match the shape with the correct sound.) In a sense, perhaps we are all closet synesthetes. ..."

.

[Jorge]

But most have brushed it aside as fakery, an artifact of drug use (LSD and mescaline can produce similar effects) or a mere curiosity.

I remember being able to taste colors and see sounds when I was on LSD. I really thought it was fascinating at the time.

I also had some very radical spiritual and rather disturbing demonic experiences while taking these drugs.

Acid, mescaline, mushrooms etc. started to cause hallucinations that took years to go away after I stopped taking these things.

[Age of Reason]

Go to this link, scroll down page, click "Listen" button to hear interview.

"Patricia Lynne Duffy explains the neurological phenomenon of synesthesia, an actual crossing of the senses, and its link to some of the world’s most famous artists, Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens":
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/02072003

[cynicom]

very interesting.

[Arthur McGowan]

I can remember exactly when I first heard the word "synesthesia." I was ten years old, and had come back from seeing "How the West Was Won"--which was in true, three-camera Cinerama. I told my brother how, near the end, the entire theater felt as though it tilted and rotated, during an overhead shot of the Los Angeles freeways. He said, "That's call 'synesthesia.'"

[Arthur McGowan]

I should have said, "I felt as though the entire theater tilted and rotated." I don't know how the theater itself felt.

[Walnut]

thats very interesting. I would have picked bouba to inkblot because of the sound of blot and bou as they relate to each other. they sounded alike to me. sort of

[Thinkin' Gal]

People with synesthesia--whose senses blend together--are providing valuable clues to understanding the organization and functions of the human brain

"It's a mix between Kentucky Bluegrass and Northern California sensimila. The great thing about this is you can play 36 holes on it and then get smoked to the bejeesus with it."
--Carl Spackler

[muggs]

Bump to finish reading tomorrow.

chicken tastes "pointy"--

Everything I have eaten for the last week feels pointy anyway. Last night I even dreamed I was eating thumbtacks.

[wideminded]

There is an incredibly interesting book on this subject: The Mind of a Mnemonist by Aleksandr R. Luria. This book is actually about a man with an almost infinite memory who was a patient of Luria, a Russian psychologist, over a period of many years. It becomes clear that the source of his powerful memory are the strong associations formed by synesthesia involving all his senses. A more recent book that is also good: The Man Who Tasted Shapes by Richard E. Cytowic.

[Herodotus]

sweeet! added to my file. I'd always wondered what the deal was with my seeing colors for numbers. It became a part of how i think about things in doing research, and how I'm able to associate the parts of my analysis together.

[Billthedrill]

To be honest, I would have to classify my dabbling in psychotropic substances as overall a positive experience - for one thing, it made me aware of what sanity is, and why it just wasn't for me...