For as long as I can remember, most every spoken word and the sight of many objects elicit a physical taste or smell. It's just normal for me.
I never realized everyone else doesn't do this until one night a few years ago. My husband and I were talking about my "weirdness", as he calls it, and he said, "You're the only person I know who does that!" I was intrigued by that and decided to do a little research to figure out my unusual brain.
I do remember a few times as a child mentioning a smell or taste of a word or object to friends and getting some laughs, even though I wasn't joking! I was often told I had a big imagination, which is actually not true at all for me. I'm more of a realist who has to see to believe, and I have a hard time imagining anything without physical proof. I simply thought that what I experienced was normal, and that everyone else had the same response to certain words. I eventually learned to keep my thoughts about those things to myself and quit mentioning them. I quickly realized it didn't make sense to most people. I assumed it was them that was weird and that's why they didn't understand. Now, I understand that it is clearly me that's different!
I remember seeing a news show many years ago about synesthesia. It explained that synesthesia is a rare phenomenon where your senses cross. Only 3.7% of the population have any type of synesthesia. Only 0.2% have Lexical Gustatory Synesthesia, which is my type of synesthesia. That equates to only about 19 people in 500 having any type of synesthesia, and a mere 1 of me in that crowd!
There are thought to be as many as nine types of synesthesia. The most common type of synesthesia is a connection between music and colors, called Chromesthesia. People with Chromesthesia may hear music and each note will be an individual color or shape. Musical notes have specific colors, and as a melody plays, the colors swirl and move with the music. As an artist, I would love to have Chromesthesia! I've seen some beautiful, amazing artwork done by these synesthetes who listen to music and paint what they "see" as they hear the notes played. Some notable artists and musicians with Chromesthesia that you may recognize are Tori Amos, Franz Liszt, Billy Joel, Pharrell Williams, Duke Ellington and Vincent Van Gogh!
Another common type of synesthesia is where the letters of the alphabet and numbers have an assigned color, and sometimes even a "personality". This type is called Grapheme-Color Synesthesia. Those with Grapheme-Color Synesthesia often assign a color, personality or gender to specific numbers or letters. I've read where synesthetes with this type will say something like, "The number 8 is green, is a male and he is moody. The number 3 is pink and is sweet and innocent." Grapheme-Color would be cool to experience too. It would help us remember numbers better, I think.
Another more common type of "syn" is Spatial-Sequence Synesthesia. In an example of Spatial-Sequence syn, people may see a calendar in a completely different format than what is typical. The calendar may be rectangular, with July positioned in the upper left corner and July may be blue. February may be red and be in the middle of the rectangle, with April formed in a circle around it. This type of syn would sure have made history class a little easier for me! I am terrible at remembering dates. I feel like this syn would help me remember them a little easier!
Another type is Auditory-Tactile Synesthesia. This type causes you to feel touch-based sensations when you hear certain sounds. With this type, you may hear a car horn and feel pain in your stomach. Similarly, Mirror-Touch syn causes you to feel what another person should be feeling, like if they swipe a bug off their shoulder, you feel the swipe on your own shoulder. I'm actually glad I don't have either of these types! There are more types of syn other than the ones mentioned here, but these are the most common.
The synesthesia I experience isn't nearly as useful as the other types, but it is entertaining, at least! The type of syn I have is called Lexical Gustatory Synesthesia, and it is the most rare form of syn. For me, certain words have an automatic taste and smell, along with the feeling of it in my mouth. It's not something I choose to do, it's an automatic reflex.
I would say I have synesthetic responses at least 10-15 times per day, if not more. Most of my synesthetic responses are triggered by spoken words, but some are by things and objects I see. For example, if someone says the word "time", I taste and feel Tic-Tacs in my mouth. If they say "agree", it's a grilled cheese sandwich with greasy, buttery bread. I don't like either of these foods, so it's not always a pleasant connection. But sometimes, I do have a pleasant response, and sometimes no words are spoken at all, it's just an object that my brain connects to a taste or smell.
One day, I was in Kohl's and I saw a red and black plaid shirt. I immediately smelled and tasted my second grade lunchbox!! It was a combination of peanut butter and jelly mixed with a Little Debbie Nutty Bar, with a slight taste of metal, with the feeling of the Nutty Bar crunch. I know... weird!! But that was a sweet, nostalgic moment. I actually went back to the shirt two or three times just to get another little "taste" of it. I sent a picture to my brother and he had the exact same response! I could never have bought that shirt or I would be distracted the whole day I wore it by the smell of that lunchbox!!
The reason we synesthetes often don't know we are different is because scientists believe these synesthetic connections are made in very early childhood, so it's just a part of us that's always been our normal. As we learned new words, colors, numbers or musical notes, our brains tried to make sense of them and formed a solid connection to something more tangible. Once those connections were made, we will keep them for life. Each person's connections are unique to that particular person. The connections are made because of something that happened early that connected those things in our brains. Maybe someone was eating a Tic-Tac in front of me the first time I heard the word "time"?? Or, maybe the sound of "Tic-Tac" is equal to the sound of "tick-tock" in my mind?? I would say that most of my synesthetic responses make perfect sense to me, most of the time anyway. I have a hard time understanding how you don't see it too!
Synesthesia tends to run in families. Once I began to understand my syn, I mentioned it to several people in my family. Since synesthesia is believed to be genetic, I hoped that I wasn't alone. It turns out that two of my siblings have the same type I have, and two of my sons do as well, although all of their's seems to be a bit milder than mine. I also have a nephew who has it. I suspect my mother had it, and I have wished a million times over I had asked her a little more about what responses she may have had to certain words or sights when she was here with us. I would also love to know if any of my grandparents had synesthesia. I feel like my maternal grandmother may have been a synesthete too, but again, she isn't here to ask.
In order to better understand myself, I've tried to get to the root of how synesthesia works. In my research, I've found that neurologists believe synesthesia is caused by having a more than typical amount of neurons, and also having a crossing of neurons. One study I found speculates that it is an unusual phenomenon where neurons that typically disconnect in "normal" people as infants just simply stay connected in synesthetes. Think of it like a newborn who can't yet understand words or that can't see very well yet. That baby learns who Mommy is by her voice and her scent. Once they have an understanding of who she is, they will no longer need the trigger of scent or voice to identify Mommy. The neurons that were formed for that purpose are no longer needed, so they disconnect. With synesthetes, the neurons just never disconnect, so we still associate those things together.
I love my synesthesia and am just as amused by it as you probably would be if you could taste and smell what I do all day 😁! What is most interesting to me is that I'm not a foodie in any shape or form. In fact, I like very few foods and I'm not a big eater. I'm still trying to figure out if my syn factors into my lack of interest in food. Maybe I essentially "eat" all day through my syn! Either way, I wouldn't change a thing about it, and I am thankful for this unique quality, most of the time, at least. It's fun to run things by my family who understands it, and it's fun to run it by people who just think I'm making things up since it's totally foreign to them!
My hope is that you have learned something new by reading this, and maybe you will recognize synesthesia when you see it in yourself or others after learning a bit about it. I am curiously waiting to see if any of my grandchildren inherit this unique trait. I hope it lives on through generations to come. May the weirdness continue!! 😁
*For your entertainment, here are some of my synesthetic responses to words. I'll put an emoji on each one to show what's good, what's neither good or bad, and what's disgusting!! Enjoy! (I edited to add my brother's connections. Some are very similar to mine!)
The phrase "it's not the same"=semisweet chocolate chips😋
Not=eggnog😐
Edgar (my husband's personal favorite 😉)=bandaids and Milk Duds🥴
(I feel the bandaids in my mouth while having my teeth stuck together with the Milk Duds 😖 I love eating Milk Duds, but in this case it's disgusting 🤢)
Same (used alone)=fried spam sandwich🤮
*My brother's=pound cake
Agree=always grilled cheese sandwiches drenched in greasy butter🤮
*My brother's=chicken noodle soup
The word "done" is reheated chicken in foil😐
*My brother's=brown and serve rolls with butter
Connie=corn dog😑
Time=tic-tacs🤢
*My brother's=a pocket watch ticking as rolls are baking
Pearl=toothpaste🤢
*My brother's=crutches and green shampoo
Charles=dog food, like the ground up soft kind in a can🤮
*My brother's=Cherry pie
Fred=stale bread😑
*My brother's=spaghetti
George=Raisinettes😊
*My brother's=a dirty diaper
Paul=furniture polish on a dust mitt😐
*My brother's=chocolate covered raisins
Yes=plaster😐
*My brother's=uncooked cabbage leaves in someone's hand
Correct=typewriter ribbon🤨
(I like this smell but I can feel the ribbon in my mouth and taste the ink..not pleasant, so 🤢)
*My brother's=notebook paper, pencil lead and eraser dust
Possible=fever blister🤮
*My brother's=cherry pop tarts
Normal=medicine, like liquid iron, or like a thermometer in my mouth🤢
*My brother's=someone moving the hands on a clock with their finger
Married=cooked carrots😊
*My brother's=macaroni and cheese
Windmill=cream of wheat😊
*My brother's=windmill cookies and cream of wheat
Sherman=marshmallows😑
*My brother's=sherbet
Tony=comb with head grease and flakes of dandruff 🤮
*My brother's=a woman with Dippity Doo in her hair putting her hair up in curlers
Worth=saltwater taffy and maybe Bit-o-Honey😋
*My brother's=Brach's chocolate stars
Margaret=olives🤢
Ancestry=listerine, the yellow kind🤮
*My brother's=hamburger meat frying in a skillet
Also=applesauce😐
*My brother's=applesauce
Wife=fuzzy dusting mitt with endust😐
*My brother's=marshmallow cream or meringue
This ok sign...👌-canned peas with butter🤢
(I don't mind plain peas with no butter, but this sign makes me gag because the peas always have butter when I see this "okay" sign)
The sound of high heels clicking=red, flat and round shaped sucker or a red candy apple😊
*My brother's=lemon chiffon cake
Sound of thunder=mashed potatoes 😐
*My brother's=Baked potatoes
Psalm 139:13-15
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
