Synesthesia (Was: Oliver Sacks / Brain peculiarities )

[Trina]

In the February issue of Smithsonian magazine, there was an article 
on synesthesia.  I had never heard of this gift (I refuse to call it 
a disorder) before but it sounds fascinating.


SML wrote:

Oliver Sacks' books are fascinating.  I've read "The Man Who 
Mistook..." --I think that was the one that had the chapter about 
synesthesia, which is a condition where a person's brain is wired 
differently to produce "abnormal" sensations, such as seeing colors 
when you hear music, or feeling objects when you taste something.  
There was one woman who saw jagged yellow lightning every time a 
pager buzzed in her vicinity, and a friend of Sacks made an offhand 
remark about the dinner he was cooking... that the flavor of
the chicken didn't have enough "points," and then sheepishly 
explained that when he tasted the chicken, he could see a field of 
cone-shaped objects when the chicken was cooked just right. Another 
person said that he could feel a cool marble pillar against his 
fingers every time he tasted a certain food.

Really weird and interesting reading.
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