Let's be honest here. Your introduction to this condition was hearing Kanye West claiming to have it. If you're like me, you were highly skeptical of its actual existence. Turns out it is in fact a real thing, but unlike the other two conditions we reviewed, it isn't caused by a lesion to the brain, but instead something certain people are born with. It isn't much of a stretch to assume certain people's brains are simply wired to perceive reality in this way, whether it's a specifically evolved mutation in the genome or simply a quirk in the neuronal makeup of certain brains, it is certainly a very interesting condition.
Unlike the previous two conditions which render life far more difficult, this one seems to add more creative saturation to one's perception. Someone with this condition experiences crossover with their senses, for instance they may perceive numbers to be a certain color or tasting certain phonemes they hear. It's little wonder that artists such as Kanye, or Billie Eilish claim to have this condition, as one can certainly understand it's potential for creativity.
Interesting short video on the condition
Nelson, Angela. “Synesthesia.” WebMD, 23 Aug. 2022, www.webmd.com/brain/what-is-synesthesia.
This is very interesting, especially considering there are different aspects of synesthesia. Many people claim to correlate smells, colors, and genders to things that do not have the. For example, Wednesday would correlate with pink and Friday would correlate with Orange. They can also gender things in this sense. This can be simply allocating genders to the same days of the week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday are "girls," and Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are "boys." Good read!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Kanye and other artists claimed to have synesthesia. But now, after listening to some of his songs, I can absolutely see how that is the case. Kanye's songs are super unique and I never would have attributed that to him having synesthesia.
ReplyDeleteI also chose this topic to write about because it was so fascinating. Its very clear that certain artists have a gift for writing music and I didn't know their was an explanation behind it until I learned about synesthesia. I can see how feeling the music they play, or seeing certain colors based on specific sounds can create beautiful and unique music.
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