A Blue Cats Afterword: some reflections on synesthesia then and now

A Blue Cats Afterword: some reflections on synesthesia then and now

By Patricia Lynne Duffy

Discovering the “International Synesthesia Association” in 1994

I still have my membership card for the one-time “International Synesthesia Association’ or ISA. I remember how surprised and delighted I was when it first arrived in my (snail) mailbox back in 1994.  The card was in a manila envelope, along with a stack of scientific articles about recent research on colored-word synesthesia. 

This treasure trove of new-found knowledge had come in response to a letter I had written to Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen, who, at the time, headed a research team studying people who reported “seeing colors” in response to hearing words. I had written my letter to Dr. Baron-Cohen after reading a magazine article on his team’s recent research into synesthesia at Hammersmith Hospital in London.

I remember that my first response upon opening that manila envelope and taking out the membership card-- was amazement -- that an association of synesthetes actually existed.  Were there really enough of us synesthetes around to create such a group?  I had long thought of my synesthetic perceptions as something I was very much alone with —ever since first discovering, at the age of 16, that most other people did not share my experience of words and numbers having color -- as I’d previously assumed.   In my mind, synesthetic experience was connected to “alone-ness” and unanswered questions.  Why was I the only person I knew who experienced words, numbers and time in color?  Why did none of my family or friends have any idea what I was talking about?  

Questions like the above--which had, no doubt, gone through the minds of synesthetes everywhere. The Internet was not yet a reality in most people’s lives and information on synesthetic experience was quite limited.

  The ISA membership card (on which I proudly signed my name in its synesthetic colors) will always be a treasure to me as it signifies a major step on a decades-long journey: learning about the strange and varied worlds of those like me who are constitutional (or congenital) synesthetes. 

The 1880s and the 1980s: two periods heralding research into synesthesia

Though synesthetic experiences have been reported for centuries, there were two times in history when research in the field began to flourish: in the 1980s — and one hundred years before, in the 1880s. 

In a sense, these two major periods of synesthesia studies existed at the crossroads of art and of science.  In each case, curiosity about synesthesia was piqued by a work of art.

In 1986, Elizabeth Stewart-Jones, a painter with synesthesia, wrote a letter to a journal called The Psychologist, describing her life-long experience of words having color, and asking if anything was known about the source of this type of perception.  Stewart-Jones’ paintings were often inspired by her colored words and sounds.   The letter she sent piqued the curiosity of neuroscientists and led Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen and his research team to design an experiment which involved reading a list of words to color-word synesthetes and observing their brain activation response via PET scans.  The fact that, at this point in history, brain imaging technology existed, led to renewed interest in studying synesthesia  – after  a 50-year lull during which science had no way to corroborate synesthetes’ descriptions of their blended sensory experiences.  

A century before, in the 1880s, another surge in synesthesia studies had taken place.   Similarly, it was an artist’s words and work that triggered it:  the French poet Arthur Rimbaud published his poem, “Sonnet of the Vowels” (“Voyelles” in the original French) about perceiving vowel sounds in color. The poem’s famous opening, “A black, E white, I red, U Green, O Blue: vowels”-- then spun off into fevered descriptions of vivid, dream-like inner landscapes.  The mysterious poem intrigued not only artists of the day, but scientists as well.   What did Rimbaud’s verse indicate about the nature of perception? “Sonnet of the Vowels” generated so much curiosity in the scientific community that, in 1889, four times the usual number of papers on “colored hearing” (as “synesthesia” was called then) were presented at the Conference on Physiological Psychology in Paris. 

“Colored hearing” and “the unconscious” were hot topics at nineteenth-century Paris salons, those regular gatherings of artists and intellectuals who met to discuss the latest ideas of the day.   This “synesthesia intrigue” spilled over into literary works of the twentieth century too—as we see in this description from the French author Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost time:

 “The name of Parma, one of the towns that I most longed to visit…seeming to me compact and glossy, violet-tinted, soft…”

In the same way, the 1980s surge in synesthesia studies spilled over into the twenty-first century.  Scientists at universities and institutes around the world have continued to design experiments aimed at better understanding various aspects of synesthetic perception.  In our age of the Internet and social media, research studies and findings reach the public quickly.

Synesthesia and artistic creations

Artists in Rimbaud’s day described how synesthesia affected their creative processes—as do artists of more recent years.  Thanks to popular media, we know that a range of contemporary musical artists, such as Pharrell Williams, Lady Gaga, Lorde, and Billie Eilish, have described the colorful perceptions that contribute to their music-making.

To quote Billie Eilish,

“I have synesthesia. You think of a color when you see a word or you smell something when you see a certain thing. So with songs and production and even clothing -- when I’m making music and when I’m writing and singing, I kind of subconsciously imagine a color, or some type of visual element is in my head.”

Celebrities discussing their synesthesia publicly-- and in the context of their art-- has gone a long way to encourage other synesthetes to come out of the closet about their unusual perceptions. 

In recent years, more and more artistic expressions incorporating synesthesia have come on the scene.  In just this past year, in New York City, I have attended two such synesthesia events: a multimedia art exhibition, Shadow Play by artist Karen Rempel (which includes “sound-taste pairings”, with various foods placed under artistically altered photos -- to bring out their image-taste correspondence; and  from  performer Jillian Vitco,  a one-woman show called “Synesthesia, a Musical”, a moving and engaging set of personal stories where Vitco’s synesthetic experience of “people-as-colors” is woven into the story-telling.

Contemporary synesthete-artist, Appelusa was involved in a major 2017 synesthesia art event called, “What is the Taste of the Color Blue?” in Los Angeles. And here Appelusa will quote Appelusa in describing her part in the event:

“Although I have always created art influenced by my synesthesia, like many synesthetes, I did not realize I was a poly-synesthete until later in my life, in my case, my early 20s. …In 2017, I was offered the chance to create a live performance in 4-D, called “Synesthesia Dance Experience” in connection with the Symposium, “What is the taste of the color blue?”  The performance was sponsored by the International Association of Synesthetes, Artists, and Scientists.   

I also choreographed a roller-dance pairs performance. When the roller-dancers spun, they created shapes and textures in the dark theater space. A remote gave me the ability to change colors of the LED lights with the music, according to my synesthesia.  To find out more, have a look at the web site, “Synesthesia Dance Experience”.

I first met Appelusa at that 2017 What is the Taste of the Color blue exhibition, where we both were featured performers.   I gave a reading from my book, Blue Cats and Appelusa’s visual art work, Blue Door was part of the synesthete visual art exhibition held at Building Bridges Gallery. 

Also displayed at the exhibition was the vivid and unforgettable  Taste Map of the London Tube  by James Wannerton, a word-taste synesthete whose ‘London Tube map-stops’ are  designated with the flavors he experiences upon hearing the name of each .  As one stop on Wannerton’s map shows us, “Tottenham Court Road” tastes like an English breakfast.

Another featured artist in the exhibition was Portrait XO, a synesthete-musician who worked with Appelusa on the “Synesthesia Dance Experience”.  Portrait XO’s music is inspired by her flavor-to-sound synesthesia.  At one of the What is the Taste of the Color Blue events, Portrait was given different flavors to taste, and then “played” the “melodies” each flavor evoked on her keyboard!  The audience was intrigued! Portrait XO was later a resident artist at “The Factory” in Berlin, where she continues to develop her music, which she has described as “immersive”.  Some of Portrai Xo’s taste-inspired musical offerings are available online.

 Synesthesia and social media  

  Certain social media “stops” on the Internet have done much to promote awareness of synesthesia and foster a ‘synesthesia community’, composed of synesthetes, researchers, and others eager to know more about the synesthetic response.  

An early and influential “stop” that continues to be a major presence today is Sean Day’s Synesthesia Listserv. First started in 1991, the List invites questions, comments, and discussion among synesthetes and those who study them. Sean Day has done the community a great service by creating this Forum.

In 2012, another influential Internet stop came on the scene: Psychology Today’s Sensorium blog by synesthete Maureen Seaberg. The monthly Sensorium  posts have introduced the public to prominent synesthete-celebrities, researchers, and thinkers, including Sir Robert Caillou, who collaborated on creating the World Wide Web, (struck, as he was, by the three bright greens he perceived for the W-letters);   Dr. Story Musgrave, a  trauma surgeon-turned-astronaut, who “space walked” to fix the Hubble Space Telescope; artist Carrie Firman, who described her  art project  showing a connection between experiences of synesthesia and the aurora borealis;  other synesthetes spotlighted in the blog have included performers Tilda Swinton, Geoffrey Rush, and Itzhtak Perlman.  

All are examples of positive role models for the many synesthetes out there whose synesthetic perceptions have often been dismissed as products of an overactive or “flaky” imagination.

     Furthermore, it goes without saying, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and WhatsApp, and others have all been major platforms where synesthetes connect and share information.—though these do not “vet” their posted information as others, such as Sean Day’s Synesthesia List does.

Thanks to social media, information-sharing and cross-fertilization of all kinds could take place —which also scientists getting ideas for new studies upon learning new facets of synesthetes’ experiences ---and synesthetes learning more about possible causes of their forms of perception.

Such exchanges inspired synesthete artists to create works depicting or incorporating their experiences.  Some artists became aware that their synesthesia had always been a part of their creative process.  We see an example of this in painter David Hockney’s assertion to Dr. Richard Cytowic that music had always had color for the artist—and that this perception figured into his work.  We see another such example in the carefully-researched biography of painter Joan Mitchell.  Author Patricia Albers describes Mitchell’s synesthesia as a major force inspiring her powerful abstract paintings.

In 2008, synesthete-artist Carol Steen and art historian Greta Berman curated an exhibition of work by artists with synesthesia, including that of Charles Burchfield, David Hockney, Joan Mitchell, Marcia Smilack, and Carol Steen -- at the McMaster Museum of Art, the public art gallery at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.  The exhibition ran alongside the 2008 ASA Conference on Synesthesia held at McMaster.  The exhibition catalogue, Synesthesia: Art and the Mind has become a major influence on the study of synesthete-painters, identifying, as it does, common features of their work. Berman and Steen also co-authored a chapter, “Synesthesia and the Artistic Process” in the Oxford Handbook of Synesthesia, an anthology that has been called the current reference “bible” of synesthesia research.

Perhaps because of its major arts component, the 2008 ASA conference at McMaster was among the most memorable for me. The conference presentations included a live solo dance performance, “Color Play”, by synesthete-dancer Kate Spanos, who experiences the “colors” of movement.  In addition, there was a memorable reading by author Natasha Lvovich of her short story “Phone Home” about the ‘synesthetically-experienced’ emotions of its main character in New York --during the 9-11 tragedy.

At the conference, I gave my first presentation on “Synesthete Spies, Detectives and Outlaws”, about the growing number of synesthete-detective-characters in popular novels.

Synesthesia in Contemporary Fiction

When it comes to the literary arts, fiction writers have not been slow to grasp the imaginative possibilities of creating characters with synesthesia.  Prominent mystery writer T. Jefferson Parker created a synesthete-detective character for his book The Fallen, which reached the New York Times bestseller list in 2006.  The character, Detective Robbie Brownlaw, develops sound-color synesthesia after an accident causes a head injury -- which leaves him able to see the words people speak in color!  But unlike real-life cases of synesthesia (that I have encountered), Robbie’s colorful word-perceptions let him know whether others are telling the truth -- certainly an advantage for the work of a detective! While I don’t think this can be viewed as a realistic portrayal of word-color synesthesia—perhaps such characters can be seen as “super-hero spin-offs” of real-life synesthetes. 

A number  of  ‘synesthete-detective novels’ have come out in the last couple of decades: The Color of  Bea Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J. Harris, with its main character Jasper, a teen-ager on the autism spectrum, whose vivid synesthetic perceptions aid in solving the mystery of a murdered neighbor;  (pause) the Top Ten series, (with its unforgettable detective-superhero, Synesthesia Jackson);  (pause) Miracle Myx by Dave Diotalevi with its 14-year-old synesthete-sleuth; (pause) and Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews, where Domenica, the ballerina-turned-spy character, is a synesthete in the novel, (though synesthesia is not a trait of the movie-version Domenica, played by Jennifer Lawrence – in my view, a missed opportunity to leave out such a potentially rich ‘cinematic’ dimension to the character!)

The 2003 novel, Painting Ruby Tuesday by Jane Yardley, presents a synesthete-singer, who uses her “synesthetic signals” to  help solve the mystery of her friend’s murder in one of the few such novels written by an actual synesthete.!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Novels with synesthete-characters often have artists as main characters as well.  One example, The Sound of Blue by Holly Payne, takes place in a refugee camp in the Balkans.  The character, Milan, is a synesthete-composer, whose compositions derive from the “music” of the many shades evoked for him by blue.  Milan’s “blue compositions” greatly move and soothe his fellow refugee camp dwellers, providing a soothing musical “shelter” from the daily pain they feel. 

The 1994 novel Saudade by Katherine Vaz, presents the character, Clara, a deaf woman from the Azores Islands, who is unable to hear words, but can grasp them as colors. She later engages in synesthetic artistic collaborations with her lover, Helio and the two “write paintings” and “play books on the piano.”

The science fiction genre would seem to be a natural for novels about synesthesia and synesthetes, and synesthete-author and artist Timothy Layden fills the bill in his science fiction novel, Dreams of Laika. This very imaginative novel contains synesthetically-morphing descriptions of its characters’ experiences as they journey through outer space. Here a character describes the voices of two of the other characters:

“They both had beautiful vocal timbres: hard, sharp Prussian green and peppery Carmine, respectively. I imagined how I might translate their exchanges into music.”

Salman Rushdie creates a very different kind of character with an acquired pathological synesthesia.   Rushdie’s novel, Shalimar the Clown, about a military man, Colonel Kachhwaha, whose work forces him to keep his emotions in check—until he no longer can.  The Colonel’s feelings start oozing out in the form of colors attaching to sounds.  As described in Rushdie’s novel:

“He barely had words to describe… these blurrings.  He saw sounds nowadays. He heard colors. He tasted feelings. He had to control himself in conversation, lest he ask, “What is that red noise?”

Another intriguing novel with a very different portrayal of a synesthete-character is, Bitter in the Mouth, by Monique Troung, published in 2010.  This is one of the very few novels I know of (at the time of this recording) whose main character is a ‘word-taste synesthete’.  The story explores issues of identity, at the same time cultural, racial, and neural as the double-named character Linda/Linh-Dao (the different names given by the white American family who adopted her ---and by the Vietnamese family she was born into). The character has to deal with having a ‘minority identity” in two different realms:  as a person of a minority race, which others can clearly see in the all-white town of Boiling Springs, Georgia --where adopted Linda grows up, ---and also, as a person with a minority perception, which others cannot see. 

Troung, the author, handles her subject so sensitively and engagingly, never dismissing her character’s unusual experience of synesthesia, but reflecting on the inner challenges of the “neuro-atypical”.

        In two major aspects of her existence, Linda/Linh-Dao has craved finding a sense of close community, of family.  After coming upon a TV documentary on synesthesia and carefully studying its script, the character tells us, “I have looked to the transcript for an alternative family tree.” 

We watch a 12-year-old synesthete-character, Mia grow and mature in the award--winning children’s book, A Mango-Shaped Space. Mia experiences grapheme-color and other forms of synesthesia. While writing the book, author Wendy Mass would attend our ASA meetings.  She asked questions and read drafts of the yet unpublished manuscript—to see if the “Mia” character was believable to real-life synesthetes!

The completed book introduced many children and their parents to the phenomenon of synesthesia.

Portrayals of Synesthetes in Fiction: four categories of literary depiction

After reading a number of novels with synesthete-characters, I began to notice patterns in the fictional portrayals--—and organized them into the four categories of literary depiction:   “Synesthesia as Romantic Ideal”, “Synesthesia as Pathology”, “Synesthesia as Romantic-Pathology”, and “Synesthesia as Accepted Anomaly”. 

For those who are interested, I describe these categories in detail in my chapter, “Synesthesia and Literature” in the Oxford Handbook of Synesthesia.   In 2006, an article, “Synesthetes in Fiction” by Patricia Duffy and Julia Simner was published in Elsevier.

The Valley of Astonishment: synesthesia, Peter Brook, and theater

Synesthete characters can be found in the world of theater as well.

I remember how, one morning in 2013, I logged into my email to find a message from Marie-Hélène Estienne, the long-time creative partner of legendary theater director Peter Brook. The message said that she and Brook were working on a play about synesthesia—and they would like to speak with me.  I was thoroughly amazed to hear from them.  I had long been an admirer of Peter Brook’s work: to me, he was a legend who dwelled in the “realm of the greats”, and I never expected to have the chance to meet him.  The email from Marie-Hélène led to a phone conversation with Peter Brook, which then led to a meeting with the actors, Kathryn Hunter, Marcello Magni, and Jared MacNeill—all of whom wanted to understand the experience of synesthesia – and as an aid, were reading my book, Blue Cats.  

Later, when Brook and Estienne were in New York, the artist Carol Steen and I were invited for tea at Brook’s lofty residence in lower Manhattan. It was a wonderfully congenial afternoon of sipping tea, munching on rain-bow-colored French macaroon biscuits, and discussing experiences of synesthesia.  Our conversation also included our thoughts on the epic Sufi poem, Rumi’s mystical Conference of the Birds, from which Brook would draw the title of the play, The Valley of Astonishment.

The Valley of Astonishment is based on the life of Solomon Shereshefsky, whose multiple forms of synesthesia rendered him unable to forget anything.

  Shereshefsky’s multi-dimensional synesthesia contributed to his extraordinary memory, which led him to become a mnemonist or memory-artist—who astounded audiences by demonstrating feats of memory, such as reciting a telephone directory backwards after having read it only one time.  As Shereshefsky described to his psychologist Alexander Luria, “Each word has a taste, a shape and a weight”. 

In Brook’s play, a bit of gender-bending makes the male Shereshefsky-based character a female named Sammy Costas.  We see how Sammy’s intense synesthesia simultaneously brings the world to her and isolates her from it. 

In similar gender-bending fashion, the play has a synesthete-artist-character, Carl, (based on the real-life synesthete-painter Carol Steen) who employs the perceived colors and textures of synesthetic perceptions in creating artwork.

In the play, the character, Carl consults a group of doctors to better understand his synesthetic perceptions.

Here, we see a positive ‘coming together’ of the world of science and of art. The doctors bring the word, “synesthesia” to Carl—a word that puts his perceptions on the recognized terrain of human experience. As Carl tells the doctors,   

“I’d never heard that miraculous word – synesthesia.  When you explained what it meant, things became clear for me.”  “But,” Carl carefully adds, “I know that you won’t try to take away this rich world I live in.”

The latter line reminds us how, in the past, in the psychiatric field, an ”anomaly” could be confused with a “pathology”, which needed to be “cured”. 

It is important to keep in mind that in an earlier edition of the medical reference, the “International Classification of Diseases” (or ICD) synesthesia was grouped in the category of “disorders of the nervous system”.  However the renewed research into synesthesia has shown that this form of perception does not generally interfere with the daily functioning of most synesthetes and, in many cases, might even enhance it.

The Valley of Astonishment was the third in Brook’s trilogy of plays about neurological conditions affecting perception. The first, The Man Who... was inspired by Oliver Sacks’ well-known book, The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and was first performed in 1995.  The second, Je suis un phénomène, focused on the relationship between Solomon Shereshefsky and his psychologist Alexander Luria. 

When the third play, Valley of Astonishment, opened in New York at the Theater for a New Audience, it was accompanied by an art exhibition, Mandelas by Carol Steen. Mandelas displayed intriguing works of art (with  colorful abstract bird-like images) inspired by Steen’s synesthetic and hypnagogic imagery, together with her reading of the Rumi poem, “Conference of the Birds”

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Edward Einhorn and Neuro-fest

Perhaps inspired by Brook’s, The Man Who…, another director Edward Einhorn produced and directed a collection of theater pieces in Neuro-fest in 2006.  Neuro-fest was a set of four short plays focusing on characters with different neurological conditions: Asperger’s Syndrome, Dementia, Ménière’s Disease, and Synesthesia. The latter piece was titled The Taste of Blue, about a synesthete who tries to adapt when, following a brain injury, her color-drenched world is lost and becomes shades of gray.

Post-performance, Carol Steen and I were invited to answer questions about synesthetic experience.  We were struck by the audience’s intense curiosity about synesthesia and about anomalous neurological states in general.  As producer Einhorn said of these states, "They're strangely universal.  The brain is such a mysterious organ. I can identify with almost every neurological condition I've ever read about: The symptoms are not so far from reality that you can't imagine them. Everybody thinks they have a touch of something."

Neuro-biography: the research of H.P. Lambert

“Neuro-biography” is a term I became acquainted with back in 2010.  I was on the plane to New York, coming back from the Towards a Science of Consciousness conference at the University of Arizona at Tucson, where I had been a plenary speaker.  Perusing the conference catalogue and reading descriptions of presentations I had missed, I was surprised to find one that included Blue Cats and its author-- as its subject!:  The listed presentation was titled “The Contemporary Neurological Narrative in  Autobiography”.

I contacted the listed presenter, H.P. Lambert, asking for more information and telling him I was sorry I had missed his presentation. Professor Lambert replied saying he had not been able to make it to the conference, after all, from his native France.  However, Lambert said he was continuing to write on the theme of “Synesthesia and Neuro-biography”, or those who present their life experiences through the lens of their neuro-atypical perceptions.  Among Lambert’s published articles on this theme-- is one with excerpts translated into English, with the title:

Synesthete Neuro-biography: from family secret to artistic depiction and cultural activism

Lambert writes of the “patterns of description” he has observed in synesthetes’ telling of their stories, offering examples from writings of Patricia Lynne Duffy, Carol Steen and Daniel Tammet (the latter, the author of the book, Born on a Blue Day) citing  what he terms the “cultural revolution” in contemporary ways of viewing  and reporting  atypical neurological perceptions. 

I quote a short but telling excerpt from Lambert’s article here:

“In the past, synesthetes’ experiences have been documented by others, usually non-synesthetes in the medical field …In works by synesthetes Carol Steen and Patricia Lynne Duffy, the voice of the synesthete gives us a direct, inside view of the experience.”

This is an important point and one that certainly struck me too -- back when I first began my research into synesthesia, apart from author Vladimir Nabokov’s beautiful colored-alphabet description, I could find very few first-hand accounts of developmental synesthetic experiences.

At the time of this recording, both the translated excerpts and the original article in French are available on Synesthesia Art Forum, the web site of synesthete-painter, Timothy Layden.

On a related note, in the book ,The Multilingual Self, (mentioned earlier in this recording), author Natasha Lvovich reflects on her experience of learning several languages and on her cultural journey emigrating from Moscow to New York—and reflects on the role her word-color synesthesia has played in her linguistic development.  

Her recent article, “The Gift: Synesthesia in Translingual Texts” discusses her own journey as a language learner, writer, and synesthete.  She explores the relationship of synesthesia and language by examining the works of ‘translingual writers’—that is, multilingual people who write in languages other than their native ones.

Drawing on the research into ‘cross-modal’ metaphor (an example would be ‘velvety voice’) and multilingualism, Lvovich cites Duffy’s description of synesthesia as “personal coding,” an “idiosyncratic, often emotional way to code language.” Lvovich writes that a number of “translingual writers” have reported the use of “synesthetic metaphors,” whether they are self-described synesthetes or not.  

No doubt such personal association strategies are used in the learning of language and perhaps other areas of study as well.

It would be interesting and useful to develop the study of “learning subjectivities” or “personal coding” as a formal field of study.

Recent Non-fiction books on synesthesia 

Some very notable books include Dr. Richard Cytowic’s  2017 Synesthesia, as well as a previous book, Wednesday is Indigo Blue co-authored with  David Eagleman (Eagleman was also the creator of the  online tests for synesthesia, “The Synesthesia Battery”). In 2016, Sean Day’s well-researched and informative book, Synesthetes: A Handbook was published.  Other noteworthy non-fiction books on synesthesia have included The Hidden Sense by Cretien van Campen, Synesthesia: the Strangest Thing by John Harrison; Synesthetic Design by Michael Haverkamp; The Frog Croaked Blue by Jamie Ward, and Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet.   (It is striking to note how several of these titles include a color --and it is always “blue”. For any listeners interested in reflections on the meaning of the color “blue”, please see my article “Landscapes of Blue” in the journal, Epistemocritique, volume 11).

Thanks to renewed interest in synesthesia, we now know of certain uniquely talented synesthetes of the past—and have learned how their particular type of synesthesia figured into their creative processes.  

Research of synesthesia historian Joerg Jewanski reveals that the daughter of nineteenth-century American philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson was a colored-word synesthete!  The 8-year-old Ellen Emerson confessed her experience of “colored words” to her father’s friend, Henry David Thoreau.  Perhaps it is no surprise that Ellen’s vivid language experience resulted in ‘written words’ becoming a center of her life.   Few know that the adult Ellen Emerson Tucker collaborated with her famed father and her brother Edward on a book of essays called, Letters and Social Aims.  In her own right, Ellen Emerson Tucker’s lively letters  (published in two volumes) provide a vivid and sometimes wry depiction of the social history of life in the Concord, Massachusetts of her day.

Chang Yu: synesthete-poet of 14th century China

Lest we think that only artists of Europe and North America have expressed synesthetic perceptions in their work, we have only to look at the poem of 14th century poet Chang Yu (also mentioned in an earlier chapter)  which describes the “jewel-like songs” of flower fragrances and  tells  us that “smelling and hearing are really the same thing.”

I had a delightful conversation about the poem with Ninghui Xin, a synesthete-painter from China whom I met at both the 2015 and 2018 Artecitta Conferences on Synesthesia in Spain.

Ninghui talked about the importance of synesthesia in Chinese art and also his own paintings, which incorporate his synesthetic perception of music.  Ninghui was also inspired by Chang Yu’s poem to create a painting, which he presented to me as a gift at the 2018 Artecitta conference. The painting was a ‘thank you’ for our collaboration; I had introduced Ninghui to the English translation of Chang Yu’s poem. Ninghui let me know the poem’s original Chinese reference.  

I am delighted to have this synesthetic-poetic painting by Ninghui  in my collection of works by synesthete-artists. 

The Artecitta conference also generated other cooperative artistic efforts: Ningui, Maria-Jose de Cordoba, and Timothy Layden all created paintings showing their perceptions of Music of the Tang Dynasty. At this writing, an image of Tim Layden’s musical painting can be found on his web site, T.Layden.com

At the 2018 Artecitta conference, Ninghui led  participants in collaborating on a group visual depiction of Ravel’s Bolero. Each synesthete-participant was assigned to paint or draw one of Boleros’ musical passages. These depictions were then put together into a large collage-like tableau, which, at this recording, can be viewed online.

 The First Synesthesia Art Exhibition and Forum in China

Another inspired cooperation took place in  2016 --17,  when both “Artecitta” and the ‘Chinese Synesthesia Alliance’ collaborated on the “First Synaesthesia Art Exhibition  and Forum”, in China!   This was a  “traveling exhibition”  that brought lectures, performances, and art exhibits to four Chinese cities: Beijing, Hangzhou,  Xuzhou, and Xi’an.  The exhibition was led by Ninghui Xin and Maria de Cordoba.  Ninghui points out that “synesthesia” is not a new concept in Chinese art, which has long viewed poetry and painting as a kind of “continuum”. 

The idea connects to a cross-modal concept called “Tonggan” in Chinese.   During the Forum, as Ninghui explains, the artistic concept was also framed in a scientific approach, supported by international synesthesia associations.

Contemporary Synesthete-Musician, Jenny Q. Chai

Now let’s turn to the artistic work of another wonderful contemporary artist: synesthete-musician, Jenny Q. Chai.

Originally from Shanghai, Jenny Q. is a pianist, who shows her colorful experience of music by projecting original paintings of her visual-music perceptions on a large screen as she performs.

Jenny describes her experience of listening to Debussy’s Fireworks:

“All of a sudden, I saw such strong colors and lights. That's why I painted this painting right at that moment, to capture what I saw while playing the music. …I always had referred to notes with some colors. The note E is a bright yellow for me.  The note “A” is dark brown. “

Jenny Q.’s synesthetic performances have taken her to many corners of the world, including her native China, the UK, the US, and Cuba. She is  also considered a major contemporary interpreter of the musical compositions of the great, innovative synesthete-composer, Olivier Messiaen, and works closely with contemporary composer, Andy Akiho, also a synesthete.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The artist feels it’s important to share the color dimension of her music because, as she says, “…every form of art is about evoking other senses…We can't just listen without seeing something in our mind, or feeling, or sensing. By showing visuals, I just bring it to the next level, to the conscious level. It's more of a “guided listening”, or you could say, a “guided synesthesia experience”

At the time of this recording, Jenny Q. is a piano faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley, where she inspires students and others with her colorful compositions.  

Jenny is a co-founder of the Face Art Music Institute, a highly regarded music school for children in Shanghai, China. 

Konstantin Saradzhev, the Bell-Ringer and his synesthesia

At the start of the twentieth century in another part of the globe and practicing another art form, was the talented synesthete Konstantin Saradzhev the great bell-ringer of Russia, (where the ringing of complex sets of cathedral and church bells is considered a musical art form). Saradzhev had a unique synesthetic response to hearing the bells, experiencing their ringing sounds as layers of color, described as “multi-colored spatial tree-like structures”. Saradzhev had a special perception of --and connection to --the bells, experiencing them as living presences with spiritual and even healing properties. 

Saradzhev’s synesthesia allowed him to discriminate very subtle differences in tonal increments, perceiving these, as he did, as layered shapes, colors and textures.  Music produced by bell-ringing had the capacity to capture these ‘sound nuances’ in a way that conventional musical instruments could not.

A Saradzhev scholar, Anton Sidoroff-Dorso, writes: 

“The limited tonal capabilities of traditional musical instruments made the bell with its harmonic variations and smooth tonal transitions the ultimate choice for Saradzhev.”

Tragically, Saradzhev lived a short life from 1900 to 1942, which included the period of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath -- when church bell-ringing and other religious activities were banned. 

Saradzhev became a “bell protection activist”, campaigning to preserve the musical bells as a secular art form, and promoting the design of a ‘secular belfry’ where ‘bell concerts’ might take place.

The “activism” of Saradzhev later caught the attention of an American philanthropist, Charles Crane, who bought the bells from Moscow’s Danilov Monastery and donated them to Harvard University.  For a time, Harvard contracted Saradzhev to supervise the installation of the bells.  This original ‘bell set’ remained at Harvard until 2003 when it was returned to Danilov Monastery.

Saradzhev’s connection to the bells was so powerful, he experienced them not only  as ‘living presences’, but ones with curative powers. (In fact, in Russian folklore, the bells were thought to be living beings, whose music could create a “sound dome” over humanity -- with the power to keep away pandemics and plagues!).

Synesthesia in Children

In the literature of synesthesia studies, we can find reports of children having synesthetic experiences—that seem to fade as they mature.  Daphne Maurer and her team have done quite a lot of research exploring the developing perceptions of infants—and discovered that, until the age of four months, the “hyper-connectivity of newborns’ brains”, allows them to take in the world as an undifferentiated whole—or in some sense, “synesthetically”. 

However, until recent years, not much research had been done on how synesthetic perceptions develop in young children. Julia Simner, Ed Hubbard and others have been doing some needed research concerning synesthesia in school-aged children.  The researchers feel it crucial for educators to be aware of synesthesia-- so that they do not dismiss as fantasy the perceptual experiences of synesthete-children.  Evidence suggests that child synesthetes are genetically pre-disposed to have their blended perceptions.  What’s more, research shows that synesthetic perceptions can present more advantages than disadvantages for children (for example, grapheme-color synesthesia may make children good spellers with good memories and increased capacity to visualize). The disadvantages experienced by synesthete-children are often ‘social’ at their root--—stemming from a lack of knowledge of synesthesia on the part of parents, teachers, and classmates.  For this reason, Simner has created a “synesthesia tool kit” for educators and parents. The “syn-tool-kit” connects caregivers and educators to the latest resources, research, and available testing. 

We know that even young children can report synesthetic experiences—and that reports of synesthetic perceptions tend to cluster in families.  Researchers have long suspected a genetic basis for synesthesia.

I have often been asked if anyone in my family experiences synesthesia.  Until recently, I have always answered “No—no one in my family seems to know what I am talking about!”

However, just this summer--—my niece was telling her young son, Chase (who is my grand-nephew) about my experience of colored letters and numbers. To her surprise, Chase replied, “Oh, yeah, like the number “7” is orange, “6” is blue, and “4 is green_____—yeah, I know that!”

I must say, it is exciting to know I am no longer the “lone synesthete” in the family!

A study by researchers including Duncan Carmichael and Julian Asher found that the different types of synesthetic perceptions result from influences of various chromosomes that interact with one another in particular ways.  There is no single “synesthesia gene” that produces synesthetic perceptions --  but , rather, particular chromosomes acting in concert --predispose individuals to synethesias  of different kinds. As Dr. Carmichael says, “The evidence thus far suggests that a complex cocktail of different genes exert differing degrees of influence on the development of different types of synaesthesia”

Neural Underpinnings: What is happening in the brains of synesthetes? 

I remember my excitement in the year 2011, when a picture showing how synesthetes’ brains might differ from the norm was published along with some related research in this area  -- on the neural ‘hyper-connectivity’ in the brains of synesthetes

The 2011 image indicated that synesthetes’ brains have more white matter.  What is the significance of that?   The brain’s white matter helps messages travel quickly among different parts of the brain.  In the hyperconnected brains of synesthetes, this could allow for the hearing of  something (such as  words or music) generating the seeing of something (such as  colors or shapes).  And it happens so quickly that the synesthete perceives the music or the word as a color or shape. 

The technique used to get the brain image was one called “Diffusion Tensor Imaging” (or DTI). Readers curious about the details of this process and the studies done are directed to research of  Drs. Ramachandran, Hubbard, and Brang, which can be found in the The Oxford Handbook of Synesthesia.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

A young researcher who has spent the last decade studying neural underpinnings of synesthesia  -  and who is a synesthete herself—is Helena Melero of ‘King Juan Carlos University’ in Madrid, Spain.   Melero describes her research, which she reports has the potential to explain the common neural underpinnings of the different manifestations of synesthesia:

As Melero says:

My research combines my neuroscience training with my own experience as a multiple synesthete. For more than 10 years, I have explored the neuro-phenomenological dimension of different types of synesthesia, and developed neuro-imaging studies about the structural and functional characteristics of the synesthetic brain. This work has crystallized in the “Emotional Binding Theory”, which stresses the contribution of the affective component of perception as a key feature for the hyper-binding between the inducer and the concurrent. This model is underpinned by neuro-phenomenological and experimental data,  --and although more data are needed to validate it -- it has the potential to explain different modalities of synesthesia, including intramodal synesthesias such as grapheme-color -- but also other more complex modalities such as spatial sequence or mirror-touch. 

Is there a common denominator to diverse experiences of synesthesia?

If  the “Emotional Binding Theory”  is borne out in research results, it could identify a common denominator in diverse synesthetic experiences—one that might link the word-taste perception of synesthetes like New York salon owner, Corinne—who says hearing the word “marry” always makes her taste cream cheese on toast—and synesthetes such as painter Christina Soeffing of Ulm, Germany, who says that “singing voices evoke the color yellow, while speaking voices evoke darker oranges, reds and other bold colors”, as well as musicians like Sergio Basbaum, who leads his Brazilian band in “playing” the kaleidoscopic patterns of color that appear on screens during their performances.

And finding the “common denominator” could verify my assertion (in an earlier chapter) that “Although we synesthetes may be on different streets, we are all in the same city!”

Given the likely neural and genetic influences on the development of strong synesthesia--the question arises—is it possible to “teach synesthesia” to non-synesthetes?  Can non-synesthetes learn to experience colors, textures, tastes, or other synesthetic responses -- upon hearing words or music?  While for eons, synesthetic experiences were dismissed by many as either pathological or imaginary —in recent decades, researchers have extolled the benefits of synesthesia: among them, a memory advantage, a penchant for metaphor-making, a general stimulus to arouse creative ideas.  

Can a synesthetic response be taught?

Upon hearing research results involving positive features of synesthesia, some non-synesthetes report having “synesthesia envy”—and the question of whether synesthesia can be taught has been explored.  Exploring this question can also give researchers some insight into the origins of the perception:  to what extent does it stem from nature or nurture, or both?

Some research teams have conducted experiments on “teaching synesthesia” to adults-- but with limited success.  However, in a 2014 article, Daniel Bor and his team at the University of Sussex in the UK, report on an experimental design that appears to have been successful at teaching a synesthetic response to non-synesthetes. In the experiment, non-synesthete subjects participated in a nine-week training.  The training involved reading an e-book with text printed in   colored letters.  It seems that, after the training period, the adults began in some sense “seeing” the trained letter colors, -- on or around the given letter  --even when reading standard black text on a white background-- just as congenital synesthetes report. 

What I find most amazing about the experimental results —is that after the 9-week training period, some of the adults also began to spontaneously experience ‘synesthetic-personification’—that is, the type of synesthesia where alphabet letters are perceived as having particular personalities, ---even though nothing in the experiment trained for this response!

What might explain this?  If I had to hazard a guess, it might be that the trained color stimulation opened participants’ imaginations.  From a certain perspective, alphabet letters could look like little people of different types, with the more angular letters evoking high-strung, sharp-tongued individuals, while the more rounded letters evoke more placid, easy-going personality types. One thinks here of the “bouba-kiki” experimental findings—showing that we are all, to some degree, “synesthetes”.  In the bouba-kiki experiment, subjects (both synesthetes and non-synesthetes) were shown an angular shape and a rounded shape—and asked which one was the “bouba” and which the “kiki”—and what personality traits each had.  Most participants identified the rounded shape as the “bouba”—and described the bouba’s physical/personality traits as “fat, slow, and placid” while the angular “kiki” was “quick, slim, and nervous”.  In view of this, it’s not hard to imagine that the varying shapes of alphabet letters might evoke corresponding personality traits for some observers! 

Synesthesia and aspects of personality: Mirror-Touch

On the subject of personality traits—it has been noted that a number of synesthetes report being—what might be called— “sensitive” and even “squeamish”. Some synesthetes report having difficulty looking at another person in physical or emotional pain -- without having a strong corresponding emotional or physical response within their own bodies. I would certainly put myself in this category.

While I am watching a movie showing scenes of physical or even psychological violence,   I have been known to – involuntarily -- hide my face, clutch my shoulders, or jump out of my seat.  If, for example, the movie scene shows a person being hit in the face, my own hand will immediately go to my own face, as if to stop the blow.  Or I will just cower and raise both forearms as if to block the blow—for both myself and the person on the screen. During such scenes, I feel a very unpleasant sensation shooting quickly through my body, sometimes at or near the body site where the person in the film is experiencing the injury. 

Such scenes encountered in real life evoke even more intense sensations. Reactions like this may be viewed in the category of “mirror-touch” (or M-T) synesthesia.

Certainly, my own M-T would  prevent me from working in the medical field -- as my reactions to others’ emotional and physical pain are too overwhelming—and could hamper any ability to provide effective aid.

However, Dr. Joel Salinas, a neurologist, who describes having even stronger M-T responses than my own-- in his fascinating book, Mirror-Touch --managed to free himself from M-T’s  more distracting elements —and focus on the empathy at their root --and the boundaries of the body.  By so doing, he was able to better serve his patients in pain. 

As Dr. Salinas writes,

“Whenever I caught myself immersing too far in the sensorial world of others, I reeled myself back into my own body…With deliberate practice, I focused myself on mastering the ability to traverse gracefully through my core… It was hard to believe I was able to move with that lightness in and out of patients’ rooms on rounds while maintaining the flexibility that I did.  That wasn’t the case when I first started seeing patients as a medical student.”

Synesthesia and Sensory-Substitution Devices

The brains’ capacity for flexibility is evident in Dr. Salinas’ success in re-training aspects of his response. 

It can also be evident in individuals’ ability to learn certain tasks they never thought they’d be capable of—and in a few cases, accomplish amazing feats.

Some listeners may remember the astounding cover story of the June 18, 2001 issue of Time Magazine.  The cover showed Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind mountain climber to make it to the top of Mount Everest!  Following that incredible feat, Weihenmayer climbed highest mountain peaks on nearly every continent with the help of a device called the brainport.  He accomplished these feats despite having lost his sight at the age of 13!.  

What is the “brainport”? It’s a device that includes a video camera that climbers wear on their foreheads—with attached sensor-wires that go from the camera to inside the wearer’s mouth, touching the tongue.  The sensors “translate” the camera’s visual images into vibratory signals that wearers feel on their tongues!

The wearers then learn to interpret the pattern of vibrations--in order to know the quality of the mountain terrain ahead of them.   By using the brainport, climbers can, in a sense, feel the terrain on their tongues, rather than see it with their eyes.  In other words, thanks to the brainport, Weihenmayer was able to “see” with his tongue!

David Eagleman, a leading synesthesia researcher, writes about Weihenmayer in his book, Incognito: the secret lives of the brain. Such cases, along with his long-time study of synesthesia—inspired Dr. Eagleman to consider helpful ways in which one sense might substitute for another—and aid, for example, a person who is hearing impaired. Eagleman has developed two products: the Buzz and the Vest—both devices that translate sound into vibratory signals that wearers can feel on their wrists (in the case of the Buzz, which is worn like a watch) or on their torsos (in the case of the “Vest”, which is worn like a garment). The wearers learn to interpret the vibratory signals—which “translate sounds into sensory modes they can easily apprehend.

Synesthesia Research and Alzheimer’s Disease

A young, up-and coming researcher at MIT, Alexandra Rieger has also been inspired by her background in synesthesia research  --to have a wider understanding of multisensory processes. This broader understanding is leading to developing  applications on the clinical side.  Rieger explains that her research shows-- how neural events-- are reflected -- in sensory experiences people have.  One discovery is -- that those with Alzheimer’s Disease—emit fewer Gamma brain waves than is normal. What are Gamma brain waves?  Well, the brain goes into different kinds of states-- It is in the Gamma state that the brain does a lot of its “clean-up” of neural plaques and tangles that have accumulated.  If too many of these plaques and tangles build up unchecked—it can lead to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.  As people age, they can experience the Gamma state less often, allowing the plaques and tangles to build up and cause cognitive issues.  However, research shows that certain kinds of multi-sensory stimulation -- and changing light intensity -- will help generate a more frequent Gamma state.   Rieger and her lab joined this research initiative -- and Rieger was the first to build multisensory medical instruments such as the “Gamma Moon”, a short name for "Musical omnisensory orbital instrument", which generates music, color and tactile stimulation for users---and induces a  needed Gamma state.

Rieger is also currently working on another device called the Labyrsense, which is a rehabilitation tool allowing patients recovering from stroke -- to pursue their prescribed therapeutic exercises independently -- and with better motivation-- by providing musical feedback that lets them know if they are doing the exercises correctly.  The Labyrsense will be a multi-sensory enhancement of the standard “hand maze” tool used in stroke recovery .  As Rieger says, “Engaging the senses plays a key therapeutic role and generally expands our understanding of the human experience.”

Why synesthesia research matters

While writing about and presenting synesthesia studies, I have sometimes been asked why the study of synesthesia matters.  Why, some people ask, is it relevant to study a type of perception that relatively few experience?  

Of course, we must keep in mind what pioneering researcher Dr. Larry Marks indicated as far back as the 1970s--the study of strong synesthesia has implications for us all, as all of us are, to a degree, synesthetes.  Human beings are on a ‘synesthesia continuum’ from mild to strong.   Those who experience strong synesthesia are just experiencing - in a more 

To quote researchers Noam Sagiv and Jamie Ward  from their 2006  article “Cross-Modal Interactions: ”Lessons from Synesthesia, “…mechanisms underlying synesthesia do reflect universal cross-modal mechanisms”

All of us will make links between one sense or another—either literally as strong synesthetes do, or more abstractly or metaphorically, as most people do. 

Synesthesia study shows us quite vividly the potential that different parts of the brain -- and the different senses have - to work together—and at times --given the plasticity of the brain, --even compensate for one another. Such research has implications for so many  fields: from neuro-science, to education, to psychology, to all forms of artistic expression and to the whole topic of human diversity. 

Synesthetes report “immersion experiences”: a factor in their creative processes?

An intriguing aspect of synesthesia --ripe for more study-- is the “immersion experiences” synesthetes often report. Composer Michael Torke describes his sensation of “swimming in orange” as he composed his “color music”. Richard Feyneman descried being surrounded by “colored equations” as he explained physics concepts to his students. Musician Portrait XO describes her music as “immersive”.   

Grapheme-color synesthetes describe “landscapes” of letters and numbers on which they “walk’.  

Research on time unit and spatial sequence synesthesia -- has brought synesthetes’ landscapes” to light. It would be useful to know whether such experiences have a function—perhaps such ‘synesthetic environments’’ help to keep synesthetes focused on a given intellectual or creative pursuit.

In addition, musing about how each of us internally experiences information points to a bigger question: what is the connection between the way  given individuals internally code knowledge—and the way in which they are able to grasp and develop that knowledge?

At its beginning, much synesthesia research centered on whether or not synesthetic experiences were “real”. Certainly, since the ‘synesthesia renaissance” started in the 1980s,  the reality of such perceptions has been documented again and again in brain imaging studies, stroop tests, and other types of investigative research.  Synesthesia studies can now focus on other possible implications for synesthetic perception -- and relate it to larger concerns in various fields.

We’ve come a long way in our understanding of synesthesia

What a long way we have come in our understanding and view of synesthesia and of those who experience it.  When I began my research in the 1990s, my interviews with synesthetes were full of tales of others’ disbelief and dismissal of their synesthetic perceptions.  There was also much more frustration at the difficulty of finding information to explain synesthetes’ everyday experience.

The feared stigma of being tagged “crazy” or “flaky” that caused synesthetes to keep quiet about their perceptions has not disappeared entirely, but has, to a significant degree, lifted.  These days, synesthetes can gather with others who experience or study synesthesia at a variety of conferences around the world, point to much scientific and other research, plus many examples of both fictional and real-life synesthetes -- to better know themselves -- and make their form of perception more knowable to others.

At this writing, universities on nearly every continent are studying synesthesia. 

Societies are gaining a broader view of the diversity of those who dwell within them.  Just as in recent decades, we have learned more about the varying ethnic and cultural diversity of our fellow-citizens -- so we are becoming better acquainted with the neural diversity among us.  

The study of synesthesia has opened a door to discussing and developing our understanding of the very different ways of apprehending the world. 

That first “International Synesthesia Association” membership card --that I received in the mail back in 1994-- helped me walk through that door—and is now leading to new pathways.

That original “International Synesthesia Association”(or ISA) no longer exists, as it has since morphed into the UK Synesthesia Association.  The UKSA, in turn, inspired the creation of other synesthesia associations, including the “American Synesthesia Association”(which I co-founded with the artist Carol Steen), the “International Association of Synesthetes, Artists and Scientists”, and “Artecitta”, an international organization based in Granada, Spain. All have offered conferences permitting synesthetes and others to share and learn more about their perceptions.

Diversity and Human Survival

Human survival depends, in a  sense, on humankind’s ability to understand, and co-exist with others who perceive in vastly different ways   Perhaps by putting our different “perceptual-jigsaw puzzle pieces” together—we can make a complete, unified picture of our  complex world—composed of the  different complex worlds—in which each of us dwells.

©copyright 2021 by Patricia Lynne Duffy, included in Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens audio version, distributed by ACX, Audible