Synaesthesia

Experiencing flashes of color while looking at numbers or letters may seem strange to you, but it is actually the most common form of synaesthesia. Synaesthesia is a nuerological condition that occurs when the senses intertwine in the brain (Morton). If you are one of the people who sees colors or shapes when you eat a certain food, or see letters, or hear musice, then you are what is known as a synesthete. Due to the lack of reporting, it is unkown how many synesthetes there are in the world.

Many artists that experience synesthesia incorporate it into their artwork. Some, who see whole scenes instead of simple color and shapes, draw from what they saw in their mind. Ocassionally artists will depict what they believe synesthetes see and experience because they temselves are not synesthetes.

Synesthetes do not necessarily see the colors that most people would think. Angry music does not evoke a red color in the mind off all synesthetes; however, red is often a color associated with anger. The colors that they do see do stay the same throughout their lifetime though. For instance, if someone sees the letter S as yellow, they will almost always see S as yellow, it is not common for the S to change to red or green.