There are millions of interesting things about humans that aren’t so understood. The capacities of the human brain are apparently endless and haven’t been studied as deeply as we could think. A proof of this is a condition called synesthesia.
Synesthesia is explained as a no pathological condition of human perception, where people seem to be overstimulated when it comes to sensorial aspects. These scientific terms can be translated to explain that basically, people with synesthesia are able to see colors in things that aren’t there.
They can see colors when they hear music, when they see numbers, when they eat something, or anything else. It depends on the person, but they can see colors when they are stimulated by something. Usually, it is mixed with something nice for the individual, whose brain responds with an associated color.
There aren’t any bad aspects about living with synesthesia, other than sometimes people feel abrupted by overstimulation, like a sensory overload. Also, it can be amplified in some periods of the person’s life, such as moments of depression or excessive excitement.
Such as aphantasia, another particular condition, people with synesthesia aren’t completely aware of their condition, since they think this type of perception is usual among everybody.
Some investigations state that the condition could be the result of a crossing of the different ways that process varied information in the brain, which could be the result of a failure in the nerve’s connections during the development of the brain in the womb, still, this is just a theory.
Though there is no solid clue about what causes synesthesia, there is a hypothesis that the condition could be hereditary, even an entity linked to the X chromosome, since there have been particular cases among the same family. Also, it is more common than we think, however, it doesn’t have a pattern regarding age or gender.
It is believed that all babies have synesthesia until some point in their early childhood since they perceive things differently, but it is preserved in some people, where it is constant, conscious, and automatic.
A lot of people with synesthesia have been reported to be really creative, as it has something to do with that part of the brain. They use their abilities to create art in different forms since this gives them a different way of seeing the world.
Some famous people with synesthesia are Ed Sheeran, who has used it to make music, or Vladimir Nabokov, the author of Lolita, who dedicated his life to writing. It is also common among painters, and even chefs.
