Synesthesia Test Variations
Synesthesia is a condition of the mind in which our brain’s processing of the senses is intertwined. While some who experience the condition may consider it a nuisance (at times), those on the outside (looking in) often regard the condition as nothing less than phenomenal. People who experience synesthesia are nominally labeled as synesthetes. Synesthetes experience the world around us in a different way. Have you ever tasted the richness of the color blue, or seen the brilliant orange streaks of a high C note? Do you perceive sensations with a sense that doesn’t seem to belong? Probably not. If you have had a similar experience, though, there’s a good chance that you’re the one synesthete in every 2000 people. Still curious? Good! There are a variety of synesthesia tests that can help you verify or nullify your personal relationship with the condition.
Visual Tests
A common test for grapheme-color synesthesia is having the subject in question look at a picture with several black letters or numbers. A person without synesthesia will look at this picture and see it as it is: a picture with black letter and numbers. He or she will not see anything atypical. However, a synesthete (who associates specific colors with specific letters and/or numbers) may look at the same picture and perceive something quite different. As he or she begins to scan through the letters and numbers, each has its own respective color – a bijection of sorts between grapheme and color. While this is a rather simple synesthesia test, it does its job, providing quick, most-often definitive results.
The above picture depicts an example of how a synesthete experiencing grapheme-color synesthesia might perceive the numbers (right) compared to normal perception (left). The test, in this case, is how fast the subject is able to find all of the number 2s in the picture. While a person with normal perception tends to have trouble hastily distinguishing between the 5s and the 2s, a grapheme-color synesthete may perceive 5s as one color and 2s as another, making the task a much easier one. You get the idea. Simple, yet effective.
Auditory Tests
Since there are numerous types of synesthesia, a visual test is not the only kind of synesthesia test you will find on the internet. For example, there also exists auditory synesthesia, which occurs when a sound activates an additional sense (to hearing) for a synesthete. To be able to test for auditory synesthesia, one will be asked to listen to a collection of sounds to see if he or she experiences a sensory perception that is not mundane (e.g. seeing colorful shapes or tasting a certain flavor).
Test-Retest
This is a type of test where a person is given a set of objects (e.g. numbers) and is asked to assign colors, tastes, personalities, or more. After a certain amount of time, they are given the same objects again and asked to do the same task. A synesthete will be able to assign the same characteristics very easily, as they’ve already made neural associations which are automatic and consistent.
Stroop Effect
Also known as the Stroop test, this pertains to a kind of psychology test that researchers use to demonstrate the subject’s reaction time for a task. It is widely used in clinical practice. Because Stroop tests are used to measure reaction time (and due to the fact that synesthesia is automatically evoked), researchers use them to see if the reactions within a person’s brain are consistent with those standard in a brain altered by synesthesia.
It always bugs me when I see the number test you mentioned. I can easily spot the “2″s of course, but they are all black. Maybe this is just me, but I don’t SEE the colors (wouldn’t that be a hallucination??), I merely “feel like” those things are those colors (and they are unchanging colors, the letters and numbers and words are ALWAYS those colors, they never change). Maybe my synesthesia is mild? I don’t know. The colors are only being perceived in my head, like a feeling. I “feel like” a letter or word or number is a certain hue, but I don’t LOOK AT IT and SEE those colors.
Another thing is, it doesn’t bother me very much to see a letter or word in colors that are not the same as what I feel they are. I mean, I think it doesn’t look as “comfortable” as my colors, but it doesn’t bother me to see them in other colors. Which I suppose is good, because I’m a graphic designer and web developer. LOL… but also it’s part of my personality to separate my own emotions from that which is logical, so perhaps that is also a reason why it doesn’t bother me if someone else doesn’t use the “right” colors, because I know it’s illogical.
I’m very rational and logical (not very emotional about most things), but also highly visual and artistic (and can feel emotional about those things which doesn’t require logic, such as art). I feel fortunate to be both of those things.
Thanks for the comment! I’m certainly no expert, but it sounds as if your synesthesia is mild, yet present nonetheless. The way you described your interpretation of letters in different colors than yours as being “not comfortable” seems to indicate that your senses are at least a little intertwined. Also, it must be very nice having that duality of logic and abstract – being able to approach some things logically and other things whimsically. Bravo!
I just found out I have this condition and I am im my early 20′s.
I see letters with color and personality in my minds eye, along with the sex of the letter. Some letters get along better together than others.
I also have the same perception with numbers. 9 is a tall dark man that is aggressive and rude. Where as 7 is a kind and lean man that is a light blue with a little bit of darker texture.
When I hear music I see large amount of colors and shapes. I can even draw these sequence of shapes and then remember the song later from them.
I also have a strong feeling towards color and what colors go together and what ones don’t just be “feeling” it. This is all interesting because I am a graphic designer and also an illustrator.
I also see colors when I feel something like pain or a good felling. Sometimes I get a weird texture in my mouth that is smooth when I’m happy and more prickly when I am angry oe upset. When I am happy I see bright colors but when I am upset I see blakc and reds.
This is a whole new world to me! I also associate people with color. If I meet someone that Is blue I know I’ll get along with them. But if they are black or purple I know that there probably isn’t much chemistry there.
Do you think I haeve a strong sense of Synesthesia? I feel like my whole life is color, shapes, sounds and is associaited with everything I do. It’s shocked me that so many people dont see what I see! Great website and thanks for sharing!
Hey Hillary,
Wow! Although I’m no professional, it seems like you have quite a few types of synesthesia! Everything that you mentioned sounds right on par with some of the cases that have come up in the research that I’ve done. Pretty amazing!
Also, I checked out your site and noticed that you’re quite artsy and also a musician. Honestly, this is no surprise, as many synesthetes are very creative and involved with the arts and music. We’d love it if you’d share your experiences with some of your viewers on your site and perhaps point them in our direction to learn some more basic information about synesthesia!
Thanks for the support! Great comment!
Thanks for the reply Travis!
I am working on several things for my blog regarding Synesthesia, and I will certainly direct readers to your site as a reference.
I think i might have a mild form of synesthesia. I sometimes feel that a letter og number has i colour, but sometimes,I fint it hard to find colours on every number and every letter. I remember when i was little, I always imagined a square to be purple, and a triangle to be yellow.
I just wached a show on TV where Maria Mena told about her form of synesthesia. The woman who interviewed her didn’t seem to understand when she told about imagining sounds in colours. But I felt like I understood her way of thinking. After that I started thinking, if i might have the same thing.
Sometimes I say strange things like that a thing tastes like a key, and it smells like a snail, or it smells like a remote control. Do you think i might have a mild form of synesthesia ?
Hey, Bex! Thanks for the comment! While we can’t be sure that you have any form of synesthesia (however mild it may be), your symptoms certainly seem consistent with some of those that we often see in grapheme-color synesthetes. (Read more about synesthesia types.) Personally, I’m very familiar with your “that thing tastes like that other thing smells” proclivities. I’m not so sure it’s outright synesthesia, but I’m sure that it’s indicative of some of the underlying neurological aspects of the condition. So, yeah, I’m right there with you.
Again, thanks for the comment! Follow us on Twitter @synesthesiatest for updates on new content!
Hi, I found out I have Synesthesia back in October. I see letters as black, like normal, but whenever they immediatly pop up to me, then sometimes a random color pops up for a half a second then goes away from the letter or number. I also can percieve month names or words/letters even without the ‘flash’. I can see and taste voices, music, the letters and numbers and anything I see. Sometimes even pictures turn on a piece I’ve heard before. I also noticed that whever someone speaks in a certain tone, a familiar piece in my head starts playing.
How bad is my Synesthesia? Just wondering.
Hey, Catherine. Thanks for the comment! Wow; it seems as if you have plenty of experiences that are indicative of various types of synesthesia. Again, I’m not qualified to diagnose the severity of your condition, but it would seem to me that many of those perceptions are synesthetic. Thanks for visiting! Follow us on Twitter @SynesthesiaTest.
So, I’m still in very early stages of researching this, because, as it seems to be for many, I just found out that there is a name for this…
The ones that seem to be the strongest to me are seeing years, months, and days in specific places in space when I imagine them, or “time/space” I think it’s called. I also personify everything, even beyond just numbers and letters, but most objects, for example, spoons are female and forks are male. I see so many colors and shapes in sound, especially music. I am a dancer and have always used that visualization of music to interpret music through dance, just didn’t know it was anything out of the ordinary.
As far numbers and letters having color, they definitely do, but I don’t actually see them, more like they just “are” that color, more of a feeling than a visualization. Sometimes it’s even like they are they’re own color, not actually any color on the spectrum at all.. So even though the colors on a page appear all black, the e’s all pop out together, as do the a’s and o’s and p’s, etc.
I am fascinated to learn more about this and maybe find other similarities among people with this condition. I am an artist and dancer, I always had imaginary friends as a kid, I’m left handed…all things that I’ve always seemed to be the only person around me to experience, so could any of those things be linked to synesthesia? Thanks for the helpful info!
Hey Ilea,
It certainly sounds like you have some synesthetic tendencies! I think you’ll definitely benefit in doing more research and learning about the experiences of others like you. Soon, we hope to publish a post that shares some of the experiences of willing readers. Let us know if you’d like to contribute!
Thanks for the comment.
I would love to! I’m even now designing my dance classes based on interpreting the colors and shapes of the music with movements and positions of the body. I would love hopefully spread the word about this phenomenon, as I am certain I will find others who experience if as well.
Hi! I just found out this year that I had synesthesia. Ever since I can remember I have seen all letters and numbers (except for L) in color and I had no idea that it wasn’t what everyone saw. It’s definitely more interesting now to read because I actually notice things in color.
I also think I have other kinds of synesthesia, but I’m not sure. For example, I was walking in my school hallway when I suddenly tasted Quaker Oats apple cinnamon oatmeal, which I hadn’t eaten in years. There was also another time when I suddenly tasted cold salsa, the kind you eat with Tostitos chips. It was all very specific to me as to what it was, but I have no idea what triggered it if it had to do with synesthesia.
One other experience that stood out to me; I was looking at a cloud that was very defined against a darkish-blue sky, and I suddenly felt as though I were holding a round, hard, wooden surface.
Do you think I have other forms of synesthesia? The information I read on this website is very interesting.
Awesome! If you’d like to type up a short blog post that highlights some of your experiences, we’d be happy to post it! The majority of the inquiries that we get are related to hearing about others’ experiences, so we’re positive our viewers would appreciate it. No pressure, either way. If you’d like to discuss it further, feel free to send us a message via our contact form.
Thanks!
Hey Liz,
Thanks for the comment! Your experiences certainly sound interesting! As for your letter-color association, if it’s truly involuntary, it sounds like grapheme-color synesthesia. A good way to test some of your other experiences is to try to pinpoint the triggers. If you’re able to do so, you can get a better idea of whether or not your experiences associated with a given trigger are consistent. Check out our post on involuntary and consistent synesthetic experiences. A good trigger to start with might be the cloud. I guess you’ll have to wait for a darkish-blue sky, but hey, it’s a start! Let us know if any of the experiences are recurring!
Thanks!
Ok. So first I don’t want this to be true or untrue but is this normal?
Sounds taste like things and can be overwhelming and even painful. They can also be glorious and cause my hands to go into fits causing me to bend and crunch them if I don’t dance or move to release the sensation. Like the music is inside my joints. Sounds all have a texture even if they sometimes don’t make sense to other people. Sounds sometimes have a sex or a power to them or a color. I don’t have to think on this it just is.
When I was younger there were certain words you could not say to me because they actually hurt me even if whispered.
Just recently My mother was teasing me about one of these words: the title of a children’s book that combines the word turkey chicken and goose…. she kept saying “You know the word” and I would say “Which word?” really not remembering and then finally she said it and I reacted by shoving my hands over my ears. It actually hurt like a spike in my brain… As soon as she said it I remembered how much I hated how that word sounds and then I though how weird they stopped saying it when I was maybe 5 and I am 38 now, it felt just as intense. I was actually mad at her for a moment for saying that word. She laughed and told me I reacted like that as a kid, a fact she had not reminded me of in years and years and that I as only told after the response to the sound.
I can’t even write the word cause to write it I would have to sound it out in my head and that might cause me a weird pain sensation (like the sensation when you stick your finger in your belly button only in the base of my skull. sounds crazy I know but it feels crazy when I hear that word so I avoid it at all costs. like my nervous system is under attack. Anyway I had forgotten that this word existed and until she asked about it and I freaked.
What’s also interesting is that the sound of the word was made less intense because after that I made her say it over and over to see if i could control it… it worked to lessen the pain but it never went away.
Also my name is a factor in my weird sound associations I never liked any of the various names my relatives gave me and became very overloaded and finally refused to answer to anything but Meggy. To this day its the only variation of my name that I like the sound of… its a happy name on a rainy day. It is a green name in feel not look. Words also have texture and sensation. Words like submarine have impressed me for days because of the way they sound but more because of the way they feel or taste. Submarine tastes tangy like citrus or metal. I even salivate.
I thought everyone felt this way about sound. I love music but I rarely play it in real life cause I am constantly listening to music in my head but rarely put it on unless traveling because I cannot stand still when it is on literally it will cause me pain if I fight it. I am not trying to dance, although I do everywhere I go, I am trying to relieve the swollen feeling from my joints. I can easily get lost in the sound of music and then i am lost. I often close my eyes because although I do not see color suspended in front of me I can see it when my eyes are closed. I feel taken away by the sound but i feel it as it move though me.
I am currently attracted to a man based on his ability to make a variety of sounds. Sounds represent everything to me. it is the most important part of living. and Yet funny enough I am a visual artist/filmmaker/painter.
I am almost swept away by sound and understand it is a physical way. is that part of this disorder??
I also have severe visual migraines, suffer from really bad spelling, feel trapped when too many people talk but when not enough do to make it white noise. i can only handle certain voices and I am highly visual. is this not the way we all are?? Is this why people react strangely to my interpretation of sound? I feel sound I don’t just hear it. It causes me great joy and discomfort. piano and sitar have been fascinating to me since age 3.
I didn’t even know this was a type of brain structure and stumbled upon this site…
Im not sure if I have Synesthesia…..But heres what happens. Usually, when I wake up in the morning, flashes of blue sparkles appear infront of me, then disappear after about 5 Seconds. And whenever I imagine a letter, or number, or month, or day of the week, or even a persons name in my head, it always has to have a color associated to it. Like my name, Soph, is yellow. Number 4 is a light green color, the month May, is a very light brown color. I also am really creative and love to draw and write. And sometimes whenever I hear something, a color always appears in my vision. ^-^ Can you tell me if this is Synesthesia?
Hey Soph,
Thanks for the comment! If your associations are involuntary, then it’s quite possible that you are having synesthetic experiences. Ask yourself this: Am I voluntarily associating these colors with various entities, or is it just inherent? Your creativity and color perceptions indicate that you could certainly be a synesthete. Feel free to ask any more questions!
Is there a name for people who simply perceive a sex (and/or gender) when they see or think about numbers and letters, days of the week and months of the year? The way I perceive letters and numbers isn’t quite like the personification type of synesthesia that I read about here. I cannot give a detailed description of the personality type of each letter, though some do exhibit certain characteristics more so than others. The letters seem to interact with each other while they are lined up in the typical alphabetic formation in my mind. I mean that to me, certain letters seem to have a closer relationship with some letters more so than with others.
I also read about people who see some sort of a number chart when thinking about numbers. I only have this with numbers 1-9 and only when I need to multiply those numbers by 3. This number line seems to have a very specific spatial location in my mind. It is also very three-dimensional and can move around. I perceive the same type of chart when dealing with months of the year…in addition to perceiving each month as having a sex (and/or gender).
It would take too long for me to go into detail about all this, so I’ll just leave it at what I’ve explained thus far. But is there a name for what I have? Most of the people I’ve been reading about have the type of synesthesia that deals a lot with color…so I’m not really sure if I am a synesthete or not.
Hm, good questions, Jaime. I would head over to synesthete.org and try their battery of tests. It may give you a better idea of exactly what you’re experiencing, and whether you’re a synesthete or not.
I get a lot of the same sensations described by Jamie in the last comment, I see numbers, letters and word as having genders and interacting with eachother.
I also get this a lot with sheet music, the notes and phrases interact with eachother and sometimes have different genders.
I don’t really see all of the colours described by other synesthetes or anything but there is a definite way I see things like the layout of the months and days of the week.
Can you tell me if this is a mild form of synesthesia or not??
Hey Grace – thanks for the comment! It certainly sound like your experiences are synesthetic. You may want to check out our post on spatial sequence synesthesia if you’re curious about the day/week/month layout perceptions.