Synesthesia: A Disorder That Blurs the Senses

The Wall Street Journal:

For Sean A. Day, drinking coffee causes him to see a pool of dark, green oily fluid. The smell of fresh cut grass produces a dark, purple color. And when he hears a piano he sees a big cloud of sky blue mist with tiny drops of liquid plastic.

Dr. Day, an anthropology instructor at Trident Technical College in Charleston, S.C., has three types of synesthesia, a rare trait or condition in which there is a merging of sensations that are normally experienced separately. “Diet cola produces a color that’s very unpleasant, a sweat-stained yellow,” said Dr. Day, 55-years-old. “So I never drink diet cola.”

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Edward Hubbard, an assistant professor in the department of educational psychology and the neuroscience training program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, noted that the brain regions involved in processing colors are adjacent to the regions involved in recognizing letters and numbers.

Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal