Have you ever wondered what a sound would look like? Or what a word might taste like? If the networks that basically controlled each of your five senses were crossed, what would that be like?

Synesthesia, also known as synaesthesia, comes from the Greek words ‘syn’ and ‘aisthesis’, the former translated as ‘together’ with the latter being ‘sensation’. Like most words based in ancient Greek, its easy enough to derive the definition of this neurological phenomenon from the meaning of synesthesia; a togetherness of the senses.

 

This paints an interesting picture- both for those who have synesthesia, and the neurologists who yearn to understand this extraordinary phenomena. The brain is the headquarters for this complex experience, and it can produce symptoms of synesthesia in a myraid of ways. However, the exact cause of synesthesia is not entirely clear. 

One theory proposed by sciencemuseum.org is that as infants, all people are synesthesates, although by the age of four months the structures that wire our senses synchronize in the appropriate ways. People who have synesthesia from four months on simply didn't receive the same re-organization of the brain.

According to BBC News, if this kind of strictly neurological approach is taken to explain this phenomenon,  "...it's just the predisposition to have extra pathways between areas of the brain," says Dr Simner. "And we can see those connections."

fMRI's are an important component to 'seeing' those connections- the connections being the unique brain activity of synesthesates.

 

The rare nature of this condition has made much of it a mystery, with only one in two-thousand people having it. So, what are the basics on synesthesia?

 

Well, if you're female, you're in luck. Statistically speaking, it is far more common for biologically female persons to experience this phenomenon. And there is a reason this neurological deviation is not described as a disorder: according to Synesthesiatest.org, over half of those who have synesthesia describe the experience as pleasant and even pleasurable. In fact, BBC News reports that the average person could recall around 39 facts; a person with synesthesia doubled that. The advantages to having at least one form of synesthesia are there, and often far outweigh any perceivable disadvantages. And there is more than one type of synesthesia- and people who have synesthesia can identify with multiple forms.

 

Click through the next link for descriptions on the various forms of synesthesia.