This blog is on learning synesthesia ("mixing of the senses"), as a follow-up to a Yahoo question.
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnL3uRGtu8P.zVtxaoo_G2BJBgx.?qid=20070502125359AAKeppm
I know synesthesia can be strengthened, by the means described below. I expect that it can also be built in people with no previous synesthetic experience, but so far as I know that is new territory.
For anyone interested in making the attempt, it's like falling asleep: you can't command it, you can only surrender to it. Start with some set of sensory stimuli that are simple, consistent, and frequently available, such as the alphabet, the numbers, or musical notes.
Pay attention to them, and notice any percepts (most likely colors) that might be associated with them. Initially, if you get anything at all, it will be weak and inconsistent. It's a bit like waiting for shy animals to come out to play. You can't rush it, you can't shape it, you can't even focus on it too directly. If you do, it will vanish like a dream. (Later, if you are successful, the percepts will become so strong and stable that you couldn't move them if you wanted to.)
The process is not quick or simple. It will be frustrating, and possibly disorienting. I would expect it to take at least several months, but I can't tell you for sure, because all I've found in the literature is a general presumption that it can't be done at all. But if those odds aren't too long for you, synesthesia can open up a new world.
Personally, having seen people who could not walk become able to walk, simply by altering their visual field, I am more inclined to believe things are possible than that they are not.
http://www.esnips.com/doc/e1d7c977-e25f-4494-8de0-16e00fb17e37/The-Treatment-of-Akinesia-Using-Virtual-Images
Here is a study showing that at least taste-smell synesthesia appears to be learnable.
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/faculty/acree/fs616/pdf/Stevenson99.pdf
Finally, here is more on my own experience with synesthesia.
http://www.esnips.com/doc/31089b25-2f73-49d0-8ccc-07d9e938e7a7/Applied-Synesthesia-2005
3 comments:
I'm not sure if you can learn it, but then I can't really judge because I've had it forever.
You can learn to associate words with colours I'm sure, but synaesthesia is involuntary. Words just ARE their colours.
Anyway, good luck with it!
Lauren
http://colourfulanguage.wordpress.com/
I used to have synesthesia. I can still remember distinctly that a was red when i was a child. Also, i've realized that i'm able to.. match words with colors. I do this by imagining colors running through a single word, and then stopping when it felt like the color was 'just right'. Then i compared it with my synesthesiac friend and i was accurate 50% of the time (which is quite a high percentage, seeing as there are so many colors)
I've now totally lost the ability to see colors in letters or words, but then again, if i can forget it, surely i can learn it again.
I really enjoyed your article on applied synesthesia. I just started reading a book called Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tummet (Autistic Savant I'm sure you know of) and he described his ease in learning new languages partially because of his synesthesia. I don't have synesthesia (as far as I know) but considered that one might be able to develop it (if it's innate in all) to help learn languages. Thus, I Googled it and your article popped up. I appreciate your work and hope to soon develop my own synesthesia so I can more easily learn a new language or two. Thank you! :)
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