# data[].attributes.headline
Directions-  How do YOUR senses interact?

# data[].attributes.subject
Directions-  How do YOUR senses interact?

# data[].attributes.body
Now it is time for you to share how your senses interact!

The following pages provide space for you to answer the two questions posed.

1. Provide an example in your life where two or more of your senses have worked together to set the scene for you.

2. Do you think you have any Synesthete tendencies? If so, what are they? If not, which Synesthete tendency do you find most fascinating?

Each student will have their own post  to enter their responses. Please feel free to use the links given on the next page to help in your research. .

Afterwards, look at what other classmates said and respond/comment on TWO posts!
Did you find any similarities? Did they make a point about sensory interaction that you did not consider? Did they find a neat synesthete tendency that you had not come across?

# data[].attributes.headline
Synesthesia Discussion Board SlideDeck - Resources

# data[].attributes.subject
Synesthesia Discussion Board SlideDeck - Resources

# data[].attributes.body
One example of when senses interact in your daily life is the connection between taste and sight. Particularly with drinks, the vibrancy of a drink dictates how strong of a flavor we believe is present. For example, if I were given two cups of hot chocolate, one being a watery brown, and the other one being a dark, rich brown, I would be more likely to think that the darker sample tastes stronger, even if the two taste exactly the same in reality. The extreme color saturation increases perceived flavor intensity in taste.

# data[].attributes.body
The only Synesthete tendency I partially demonstrate is personification. This type is called ordinal-linguistic personification, or OLP for short. I do not engage in this personification naturally (at least not casually/consistently), but if I were given the task to personify a certain inanimate object or quality, I could come to a definitive conclusion somewhat quickly. I mean this in the sense that it would not take much deliberation or debate, and I would be somewhat stubborn and definitie in my personification route. Additionally, although I do not practice this personification all of the time, there are a few letters and numbers that I have always associated a quality with. For example, I have always thought that the number 8 was gentle and nice, which is part of the reason why it is my favorite single digit number.

# data[].attributes.body
1) when I was younger my teacher used to use a chalk board all the time which I hate. Everytime she would write something my body would get chills and it would feel like the worst feeling ever, coupled with the terrible sound of screeching on the chalkboard.

2)   I do not have any synesthesia tendencies but I find people who can read a book and image themselves in that story as the main character is so cool, because the they would be much more invested in the book they're reading.

# data[].attributes.body
One example of when my senses have interacted together is when you get a ball to the face during a soccer match and not only does your eyesight become wobbly, but also you can't breathe, and it hurt to breathe in through your nose, and you feel like you just got hit in the jaw so your mouth hurts. Maybe it is the pure shock of the impact, but it still affects a lot of senses.

# data[].attributes.body
An example of this that actually happens very often is that I will be able to associate different smells with the conditions outside. If it’s muddy out I’ll instantly smell it or if it’s rainy or brisk out. This is probably the only tendency of synesthesia I have frequently

# data[].attributes.body
An example in my life where two or more of my senses have worked together to set the scene for me would be while I am reading. When I read, I feel like I am actually in the situation that I am reading about, playing a first-person view of the main character. While I am in this almost dreamlike or pensive state of mind, I can feel pretty much all the sense, minus taste. However, the two most prominent are definitely sight and hearing as they are usually the most described in books and it helps me to imagine it better.

# data[].attributes.body
One example of when senses interact in your daily life is the connection between sight and sound. My example of this is when I am at work. If I start walking to my boss's office to tell him I need next Saturday off but I SEE my coworker in there I will simply wait outside his office. After hearing him yet at my coworker, it is my turn to go in. I change my question because I can infer he is in a bad mood because I heard him yelling at someone.

# data[].attributes.body
When I was in Cancun I woke up with the to the smell of moist/humid air and I saw the sky and how it looked grayish blue. My two sense sight and smell worked in knowing that it's gonna rain soon because it basically rains everyday there.

# data[].attributes.body
One example of a situation in which my senses interacting with one another is drinking a carbonated beverage. When seeing and hearing how fizzy a certain drink is, I can sense how it will feel to drink.

# data[].attributes.body
One example of this is the connection between smell and taste. Even if I have never had the food that I smell, I can get an idea of how it will taste by smelling it. If I smell coffee, I know how it will taste. If my food smells rotten, I know it will probably taste rotten.

# data[].attributes.body
An example of this is the other night when we went to this drive through light show. The lights were pretty but it was so hot in the car we rolled down the windows and that revealed the squelching of the mud under the wheels of the car. So there was the sight of the lights, the sound of the mud, and the smell of outside.

# data[].attributes.body
One example of my senses interecting in my daily life would be hearing and touch. If I hear a blender my body will get tense because loud noises make me anxious. If I hear someone scratch their leg with jeans on I get chills from the sensation of it. If I hear someone bite a spoon I cringe because I can feel it on my teeth. Another example would be if I hear an automatic toilet flush I immediately tighten my body up. This is due to an experience I had as a kid with automatic toilets when I was a baby. It scared me because it was so unexpected and loud so now everytime I hear it I get uncomfortable.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that I do a little bit. I'm not sure if it's closer to association, but I have like songs that remind me of specific people and sometimes it's very exact which part of the song I associate with this person. It's not really for any reason, just in my mind when I hear a certain song I will think, "Oh wow this reminds me of so and so."

# data[].attributes.body
So I know I do have some synesthetic tendencies such as tasting and hearing colors. A few others that I have is feeling pain from just watch others in pain, also tasting shapes. I don't know how to really explain what it feels like on paper but through external sources I'm sure i could explain how it feels. I also associate numbers and math problems with days of the week.

# data[].attributes.body
I do not think I have any synesthete tendencies. I find the ability to associate sounds with colors most fascinating.

# data[].attributes.body
I do not think I have any Synesthete tendencies. I find sound-to-color Synesthesia most fascinating. This is when a sound triggers someone to visualize colored shapes.

# data[].attributes.body
An example from my life where my senses have worked together would be when I connect colors and smells. If an object is a certain color, I could guess how it would smell. For example, If i looked at a drink that was bright red, I could guess that it had a strong cherry smell.

# data[].attributes.body
When I listen to music from the 1950's, 60's etc I see people back in the day dancing at booths and cool hairstyles and outfits. So if that counts with Synesthete tendencies then ya.

# data[].attributes.body
An example in my life where two of my senses have worked together to set the scene for me is when I went to Old Orchard Beach on a windy day. I could see the ocean waves as well as feel the sand on my feet and the wind. I would also smell the ocean and I imagined the salty taste in my mouth. I would hear the waves crashing and the wind blowing.

# data[].attributes.body
Sound and touch have some connection. Let's say I'm a floor upstairs and you yell to me from downstairs. The vibration of your voice (the feeling) and the volume (sound) help estimate how far away you are.
Smell and touch also have a weird sort of connection. Colder objects smell different than hotter objects. It works with rain as well, weirdly enough. That sense of temperature and the smell of the object go hand in hand sometimes.

# data[].attributes.body
An example of when two of my senses work together to set the scene is when I am watching a tv show and something sharp goes close to the inside of their lower arm I can feel something sharp on my skin. I start freaking out and I instantly feel nauseous.

# data[].attributes.body
The synesthete tendency I have is grapheme-color synesthesia. Whenever I see the color green I always think that means something is good. If your name is highlighted in green on a try-out list I will assume that is good rather then it being in red. I have always thought this because of the traffic lights. Green means go and red means stop. In memorial school we use to have the traffic lights on the white board and if you got moved to yellow that meant you were in a warning to get to red and red meant you were getting a call home, which no one wanted.

# data[].attributes.body
Im not sure except the fact Ill listen to music and Ill see a scene during it. Ive always done it and I don't really think its a synesthete tendency but who knows?

# data[].attributes.body
When u see something and dont know how it feels so u touch and it can feel and have many textures like anything furry and fluffy is soft and anything that is smooth is usually hard

# data[].attributes.body
I think I have some Synesthete tendencies, especially when it comes to sights and smells. However, I think the most fascinating one is the people who can see music or smell words.

# data[].attributes.body
I feel like i do have some tendencies because when im talking about something or see something its stands out the most or if its like textures i could feel them without it being physically there

# data[].attributes.body
Yes, I think I have a few synesthete tendencies. Although I don't use them constantly, I have the ability to use them when asked. I can hear, feel, smell, and taste certain visuals. Take today, for example, we watched the video and I was able to use my sense of sight to see a cup of coffee but it triggered my sense of smell and I could smell the freshly brewed coffee. I also have auditory-tactile synthesis where sounds trigger my body to respond in certain ways. The sound of something scratching is going to make me feel itchy and squirmish.

# data[].attributes.body
If I see food that is unappealing visually, it will make me not want to eat it even if it tastes fine. The connection with vision and taste have nothing to do with each other when it comes to functionality but sight is important as is smell to determine if food is okay to eat and to make sure you stay healthy. That isn't the most useful if it makes you not want to eat perfectly fine food but it has it's purpose.

# data[].attributes.body
While I don't think I have Synesthete tendencies, I will often associate colors and senses with images and things like that. I find it interesting that Synesthetes can sometimes see other people as a certain color, taste or some other sense. This may not match their opinion on that person and it could even affect their relationship with them because they can't see past the taste or other sense they are being given.

# data[].attributes.body
I do think I have synesthete tendencies, when I listen to songs I can normally see a color, place, and person. I also can feel movement with certain rhythm patterns in the music. Also when I see someone do something running/walking outside I can feel the wind on my face and I start to feel cold.

# data[].attributes.body
One example of when my sense did their thing is when you're in an escape room and you gotta use your hearing to hear for clicks to see if you solved puzzles or not or touch to feel for secret buttons or something that could open a door for you and etc.

# data[].attributes.body
Just an online test, obviously it's not a doctor's diagnosis or anything but I think it would be a really cool activator type of thing maybe? I would do it before you explain what synesthesia is so that the kids taking the test are going to answer the question as they normally would rather than answering the questions with the idea of potentially having this cool condition sitting in the back fo their heads. It is a little it long though. Incorporates the association of colors with sounds, months, numbers, and letters.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Do you wonder if you are a synesthete? Synesthesia tests are useful tools to find clarity for your synesthetic journey.

Synesthesia tests are the gold standard in science. Still, do not take the results too seriously.

Synesthesia tests have their pros and cons. So, see them instead as a fun tool to become aware of your synesthetic perceptions. And not as a 100% correct diagnostic tool.
Click here for more Synesthesia-Tests
How does it work?

In the Sensorium of synesthesia.com, you find our Synesthesia-Test series. There are 7 tests about the colors of numbers, letters, weekdays and months.

One test takes between 5 and 25 minutes. These tests are similar to the synesthesia battery and scientifically backed up.

"Learn to meditate if you hope to experience Synesthesia."

A synesthesia test is the first step towards increasing your synesthetic awareness. Do some Synesthesia Mediation activities to explore your senses further. They help you to discover and become aware of your synesthesia in daily life.

*** If you keep reading, this may influence your synesthesia test outcome ***

The synesthetic colors are consistent. In other words, the color of letter "A" does not change for a synesthete over time. This principle of consistency is the foundation of the synesthesia tests.

Test Re-Test Approach

Ask somebody the colors of letters, numbers, weekdays and months. And then repeat this after a while. If the participant names the same (or at least a similar) colors for a given letter, it is considered typical synesthetic.

These consistency tests are also called tests of genuineness. They test if the experience of colors in genuinely synesthetic.

It is considered the "gold-standard" of diagnosing synesthesia. However, it is not that easy as you will learn in this article.

Simple set up to test for synesthesia

This simple set up allows investigating if somebody may be a genuine synesthete.
This type of synesthesia test is called consistency tests due to this testing for color consistency. Or some researchers call it color congruency.

Different Test interfaces possible

The cool thing about this consistency test is that one can conduct a test very easily. For example, you can do such a test with friends and family by only writing down the colors on a piece of paper. Afterward, you repeat it and compare the colors.

Online you find different color picker schemes. The one that we use that involves all the 16 Mio colors for the RGB space.

Some researchers, such as Nicola Rothen, Ph.D., like to work with hue, saturation, and lightness.

In other setups of such tests, they use a subset of colors.

In the end, there are many different possibilities on how to conduct such a consistency test. The principle of test re-test color choices remains the same.

Choose the color that matches best.

The synesthesia test procedure is always similar. You see a letter, number, weekday or a month and then you choose the color that fits best for you.

But there are additional tasks that help to investigate the nature of such colors.

Some people may have an excellent memory. So they may be able to memorize the colors that they choose.

Or some people make specific associations. For example, if the Bus Number 7 in their town is blue, that they then name blue for number 7.

Reaction Tests aka Stroop Task

There are some ways to filter those memorized color associations.

One is called the Stroop task or as we name it, reaction test.

For example, letter "A" is red for you.

During the Stroop Task, the letter "A" is either displayed in Blue or Red. You need to decide as quickly as possible if the letter "A" is in your color or not.

The synesthesia test measures your reaction time and if you were right in determining if ti was your color or not.

Participants that do not resonate with synesthesia have a longer reaction time.

Synesthetes react faster and with higher precision.

For synesthetes this is intuitive. Hence the reaction time is shorter.

The shorter the reaction time, the more typical synesthetic it is.

Measuring the reaction time is a scientific procedure. But due to technical limitations on the internet, we cannot guarantee full experimental conditions. Enjoy the reaction time with caution.

And yes, it is fun! And we have it also as a feature in our synesthesia test.

Color Diversity: Is it all just black?

We learned that if somebody chooses the same colors for a given letter, that this is typical synesthetic. And if they pass the reaction test, this is affirmed.

But what happens if somebody just chooses black for all the letter?

Choosing black for all the letters is not typical synesthetic

It is kind of intuitive for many people since the letters are often written in black on white.

And if somebody chooses black for all the letters, then in the evaluation it would mean that they have chosen similar colors. And they would also be able to score well during the Stroop task.

But black letters are not necessarily typical of synesthetic experiences.

There is another measurement that we involve in our evaluation. You find that as well in the Synesthesia Battery.

It is the color variance. Or how we call it: color diversity.

What is the color diversity?

As an extreme example:

All three letters are black. The color diversity is very low because it is just black.

These three letters have all different colors. So the color variety is high.

Such measurement helps to ensure to that participants that only choose the black as color are not classified as synesthetes.

How to measure the similarity of colors.

We use some arithmetics to measure the similarity of any given colors.

Colors behave like points in space. If you have two colors, they are like two points. You can measure the distance between those points, colors respectively.

If the distance I big, then this means that the colors are very different. If the distance is small, the colors are similar or the same.

Synesthesia Battery: the Standart Test

The Synesthesia battery of Eagleman et al. is the standard test that is used by researchers to verify synesthetic participants for their studies. They have evaluated this test and approved the reliability.

Our synesthesia test also fulfills these scientific standards. As we built the synesthesia tests on synesthesia.com, we also oriented on the findings and standard values of the Synesthesia Battery.

However, synesthetic experiences are kind of volatile. And even though theses synesthesia tests find consense in the scientific community, they have their upsides and downsides.

We will go into this advantages and disadvantages a little bit later. For now, let's summarize:

Summary: How does the Synesthesia Test work?

Test Re-Test, Stroop Task, and Color Diversity.

The users choose the colors for several letters, numbers, weekdays and months.

Repeat the query. If the participants chose similar colors, it is considered synesthesia

Then participants do the reaction test. If they are fast and correct in deciding if the displayed letters are in their color, it is typical synesthesia.

Afterward, we calculate the color diversity.

All the functionalities are available. Download it now from the Play Store.

Or do you want to start a synesthesia test right now?

We have seen that synesthesia tests are valuable tools for getting insights into the synesthetic abilities.

However, there are some advantages and disadvantages of those synesthesia tests.

The Pros of Consistency Tests

A valuable tool to start the synesthetic journey

In general, the big pro is that is a valuable tool for somebody to get started on their synesthetic journey. By being "forced" to decide on a color of items such as a number, the participants start to think about it.

And it is also a help to get an evaluation. Even though those evaluation or diagnoses have their limits, they have a value.

Do not get discouraged by the test evaluation.

Important is, those evaluations should encourage you to explore your synesthetic abilitie s. The goal is not to discourage anybody.

Let's say; you have a low score on weekdays -> Color synesthesia. This evaluation does not mean that you do not have other types of synesthesia.

Whatever the outcome is, keep exploring your senses.

Scientifically approved method

With such consistency test, we can discriminate more or less successfully synesthetes from controls.

Science has evaluated the consistency tests, and it seems to be reliable.

It allows testing for some of the most common types of synesthesia, such as Grapheme-Color Synesthesia.

Easy to apply

The consistency tests are easy to use. They are either done online, but you could do it just with a piece of paper.

The Cons of the Synesthesia Tests:

Does not work for all types of synesthesia

This type of consistency test is only applicable for certain types of synesthesias.

We can use a color picker for certain types of synesthesias, such as Letter - Color Synesthesia. But there are other types.

For example, it would be hard to test for a type of synesthesia that evokes smells for seeing color. Different to a color picker where you can choose from millions of colors, you cannot do (yet) that for smells.

Not all synesthetes show consistency

Even though it is a synesthesia dogma that the synesthetic colors are consistent, there are voices that claim that this may not be necessarily true for all synesthetes. Julia Simner calls it a possible self-fulfilling prophecy.

If we define synesthetes as people that perceive colors of letters consistently only people that are consistent with colors are synesthetes.

So maybe we need to open for the possibility, that the colors of letters may change over time.

How much consistency is consistent enough? Where to draw the line?

If you have 100 points, you are a synesthete, if you have 101 points than not.
Sound weird, right?
Such a threshold does probably not reflect the true nature of synesthesia. So it is difficult to say, how much consistency is consistent enough.

There is not a sharp line separating synesthetes and non-synesthetes.

The standard procedure was like following: let some aware synesthetes and controls do such a synesthesia test.

According to the scores of the synesthetes and the controls, the researchers have drawn a line. Such a threshold in the form of a sharp line may not be appropriate.

Unaware synesthetes may not perform the same as aware synesthetes

It may also be, that unaware synesthete may not perform so well. Some people are not aware of the color of their numbers.

So if they start a synesthesia test, they may score less than synesthetes that have an increased synesthetic awareness.

About finding the balance between "False positive and false negatives."

What does this mean?

False positives are non-synesthetes that wrongly are classified as synesthetes.

False negatives are synesthetes falsely classified as non-synesthetes.

So there needs to be a balance between these two. And this is where we struggle.

If we set the threshold too high, synesthetes may be classified as non-synesthetes.

If the threshold is too low, then non-synesthetes may be classified as synesthetes.

Such differentiated test results are crucial to avoid that in studies the synesthetes and non-synesthetes get mixed up. If you are interested in learning more, read our "paper."

How we address these issues in our evaluation

According to our experience, for some people, it is just hard to give a final statement. So we include in our evaluation an "unclear range."

If somebody scored within the "unclear range" we state we cannot make a statement about potential synesthesia. In this way, we try to avoid wrong classifications.

What is the prevalence of synesthesia? We do not know!

Such uncertainties in test evaluations is a reason why we do not have precise numbers on how prevalent synesthesia is.

How common is synesthesia? Estimations and studies vary widely. And it also depends on the type of synesthesia and what kind of method it is used.

One the one hand because it is challenging to diagnose synesthesia.

On the other hand, there are many types of synesthesia, which we cannot easily test.

If you want to learn more about the challenges of synesthesia tests and why it is difficult to name the prevalence of synesthesia, then check out our article about the "prevalence of synesthesia."

If you want to check out your synesthesia, try our test series.

The visual synesthesia tes t is another variety of a test. There are some disputes if this method serves as a fully reliable in diagnosing synesthesia. However, it is fun.

Let's try it!

You will see a picture with 5s.

Find the 2s as quickly as possible.

Are you ready for it? Scroll down!

Where are the 2s?

Scroll for the solution.

You found it. Some scientists claim that synesthetes are faster in seeing it. These images are from Ramachandran and Hubbard, 2001.

Final words:

However the outcome of such tests, it is more important that you are curious about your senses and your perceptions in general.

Of course, it is helpful if you identify as a synesthete. But it is also not always necessary that you put labels. If you are not sure if you have synesthesia or not, do not mind.

Synesthesia is about your experiences and not about scores and outcomes of any tests.

"If you hope to experience Synesthesia, learn to meditate."

Meditation cultivates synesthesia. In the Sensorium, you find over 150 exercises, which engage all your senses. These mindful and synesthetic activities support you in discovering and experiencing synesthesia in your daily life.

Take 10 minutes and start now for free!

Or visit our test series.

Free Synesthesia Tests

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Are You A Synesthete? Synesthesia Tests To Find It Out.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Do you wonder if you are a synesthete? Synesthesia tests are useful tools to find clarity for your synesthetic journey. Synesthesia tests are the gold standard in science. Still, do not take the results too seriously. Synesthesia tests have their pros and cons.

# data[].attributes.body
Example One of one or more of my senses worked with each other: Sight, Touch, Smell - looking at an older book compared to a newer book i can almost smell the difference between them, similar to that "new car smell" and an older car. also looking at a book i can feel the texture of the cover or the pages. There is also times i'm able to feel what's being said in the book, for example if one of the characters is talking about their dog i can imagine what the dog feels like looks like smells like.
Example Two: Smell and Sight - seeing old used paint brushes i can almost smell the paint that was left on the brush.

# data[].attributes.body
I'm not entirely sure about my tendencies, but I'd say I have some. Seeing magnets makes me feel that cool, smooth texture in my fingers. A photo of a book? You bet it'll be any bibliophile's drug (that fresh paper smell). It really depends on the object presented to tell which sense I can bring up. Water? Gimme the salty taste. Forest? Make that into a candle. A stuffed animal? Huggability and softness it is.

# data[].attributes.body
The most synesthesia like tendency I have is feeling the wind I heard and saw in the video we watched. My mind expects it to be cold so it activated systems meant to make me warm in cold like goosebumps and shivers. I don't experience unrelated senses with anything like seeing music in colours but I think that would be really really cool because I already love to feel music emotionally so much I feel like being able to see it would just make it so much better.

# data[].attributes.body
An example in my life where I connect sight and sound is when I am listening to music. I can see an image of the artist(s) and their performances to the specific song.

# data[].attributes.body
there's a possibility i could have a couple synesthete tendencies, when listening to music or reading i hear or read about something and can taste(taste more has to do with if i read something), smell or feel what i read or heard. also when listening to certain music i will change the colors of the lights in my room that i think/feel it sounds like, same with reading, like when i think of some poetry i think purple or pink, don't know why though.
Jordan made a point saying "feeling pain from just watching others in pain" which also happens to me and also without knowing yet someones upset i almost feel something's wrong or will start to feel the emotion they are feeling, don't really know how to describe that.
I find the people who can taste numbers and things fascinating

# data[].attributes.body
I don't know but I do see artist(s) performing their songs and routines while listening to their songs in the car.

# data[].attributes.body
An example in my life where two or more senses worked together to set the scene for me is when I visit a hotel. I walk in and immediately smell the chlorine of the pool, which is my favorite smell. I run to go find where the pool is, and I see the blue water. I feel the cold class separating me from the pool area. I hear the splashing and laughter coming from inside. My senses help me to remember this moment.

# data[].attributes.body
I do have synesthete tendencies. I associate people and subjects with colors. I associate songs with pictures and scenes. I associate foods with feelings. I think it is the most interesting when people can associate people with full pictures of colors.

# data[].attributes.body
An example in which senses interact in daily life is when you go to see a play or movie, in which you sight and hearing are working together to set the scene for you. In a personal experience, that I think many can relate to, this utilization of multiple senses can be used while watching the new Spiderman: No Way Home movie. Your ability to see and listen help the audience understand and perceive what the movie is trying to convey. Therefore, it can stimulate emotion and connection to the film.

# data[].attributes.body
A synesthete tendency I demonstrate frequently is Grapheme-Color Synesthesia; this being the only synesthete tendency I associate with. Particularly with letters and numbers, I tend to associate these with colors. I have not tried to analyze how I organize numbers and letters into certain color categories, however, I did not know this was a form of Synesthesia up until this point.

Lexical-gustatory Synesthesia, being one of the most rare forms of Synesthesia, was a tendency in which was most fascinating.

# data[].attributes.body
This video shows the mind of Kaitlyn Hova, a violinist and neuroscientist who is a synesthete. She shares her experience with seeing songs through the ears. I thought it was relatable and her performance was eye-opening to the world of synesthesia. I think you guys would enjoy!!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Seeing song through the ears of a synesthete