Grapheme–Color Synesthesia

Day 96 / 366

I know the title of the blog looks scary but it's actually about something simple yet interesting. A long long time ago I had read about Synesthesia, a fascinating neurological condition where a person experiences a blending of senses. For example, someone with synesthesia might see colors when they hear music or taste specific flavors when they see certain shapes.

It is interesting to me because I have a form of Synesthesia as well. Actually, I have 2. The minor one is that I associate shapes and glow with different types of pain, it is really hard to explain in words. But the bigger one is Grapheme–Color Synesthesia, which means that I associate certain colors with certain numbers.

The picture I used above is just an example I found online, but it will give you a good idea of how I link colors and numbers. For instance, if I am watching a cricket match and the batsman is in the 80s, his score in my mind would appear in a blue color. But as soon as he enters the 90s, the score will turn red! This was the case with my marks in school as well. If I get an 83 that’s blue, but If I get 90+ then it's red. And of course, 100 is pure white.

Like all other forms of Synesthesia, it is involuntary. I do not have to think about it. To some extent, this happens for letters as well. I play the guitar where the chords are represented by different letters, and so to my brain, a G chord is green while a D chord is brown. A is red, and F is purple.

It is estimated that synesthesia occurs in around four percent of people, with nine identified variations. The grapheme-color synesthesia variation appears in around two percent of people.