A: Oddly enough, even though most of us can’t even imagine what it would be like to taste music or smell the color red, those with synesthesia can and do that every day. Just as the word anesthesia means “no sensation,” synesthesia means “joined sensation.” For some reason, stimulating one sense will trigger perceptions in another sense.
For example, a bright light might seem loud, the sound of a bagpipe sour, the color after sex a static silver. No one’s quite sure of the cause, but there are a few hypotheses. Some experts think that crossed wires in the brain cause the problem (the path to the taste buds gets hooked up to the sense of hearing path, for example), while others believe it’s due to a lack of inhibition (when the natural pathways that squelch irrelevant sensory input just aren’t working properly). Either way, the phenomenon seems like quite a trip.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
I taste blood. Does that count?
2 - Will from mental_floss
I'll have to check with the judges to see if that counts, Michael.
3 - STM
How much is it and where can I get some?
4 - Phillip Winn
I can barely keep up with non-synesthaesic sensations. This sound dreadful.
5 - RJ Elliott
Now, the unanswered question is: Are some people born this way, or does this happen to them after a bad acid trip or severe head trauma or something?
6 - Alejandra
I read everyone is born that way, and at some point during childhood the brain of some people starts separating each of the senses. Others simply don´t.
I am synesthaesic and it`s great!
7 - womankiller78
i
i s
i su
i suc
i suck
i suck b
i suck bl
i suck blo
i suck bloo
i suck blood
i suck blood!
i suck blood
i suck bloo
i suck blo
i suck bl
i suck b
i suck
i suc
i su
i s
i
I love women's blood!
8 - Dr Dreadful
Womankiller, you should've quit while you were ahead.
Say, after line 5.
9 - Wayne
Dang i want to taste sound