Do You Think in Colour?

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Found this little video on Synesthesia that I thought some might find interesting. It deals not so much with words having colors, but with tastes and sounds invoking colors.

http://www.devilducky.com/media/105641/

[onetwo_threefour]

I don't know if you're a reader or not 4X4 (not having talked to you), but there's a book called Born on a Blue Day you'd probably find fascinating.

http://www.amazon.com/Born-Blue-Day-.../dp/1416535071

It's by and about a guy named Daniel Tammet, true life story. He is a high functioning mildly autistic mathematician (well, he's not really a mathematician, but in layman's terms) who thinks in similar fashion to you. It's not that he perceives numbers in different colours (synesthesia), but he actually conceives of them as such (the gendered number thing is actually considered part of the same phenomena as I recall). It is unclear if his talents are a side effect of his autism or a separate set of abilities. (He also learns languages ridiculously fast. He learned to speak Icelandic fluently in a week without ever having been exposed to it previously.)

It is a very easy read. It's not technical in any way, but he describes his experiences vividly. Now he happens to be gay, and that is mentioned in the book but not really a focus or anything so don't be surprised if you pick it up. I read it about a year ago and though it was fascinating. I believe there was also a documentary by the same name, (the filming is described in the book) but I've never seen it.

Edit: Turns out the name of the documentary is Brainman, but in terms of the synesthetic aspect of this, I think the book would be more enlightening.

[4X4]

Just the title of the book speaks volumes to me. I'm definitely going to pick it up. Thanks for the tip.

[GreenLantern]

NM that article is way old.

But it doesn't seem like you are alone, freak. I also have some type of colour seeing ability, I see random colours in random patterns all the time, I am so used to seeing them though I just ignore it until I want to see it.

Bah here it is anyway: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0528144241.htm

[Devils'Advocate]

I associate certain numbers with colours.

1 = red, 2 = yellow, 3 = blue...

But I know where mine came from. Grade 1 math class. Our text book represented one as a red square. It represented two as a yellow rectangle with twice the area of the red square. It then represented 3 as a blue bar with 3 times the area as the red square.

And then we would learn to add with these. red square + yellow rectangle = blue bar. But we only went as high as 9, so when I hear a number between 1 and 9, I see it in colour. But any number above 9 are all black.

-=-=-=-=-
I do dream in colour. Why would the mind show images in shades of gray? As for taste and smell... can't remember ever doing either in a dream. Could just be that I don't REMEMBER ever doing either in a dream.

[Mightyfire89]

This is a fascinating thread. I don't think in colour, but I do have some peculiarities of my own. When given a basic math question, I revert instantly to visualizing writing on lined paper with a pencil, which is how I learned to do it. So I get the question, and in my head, I actually go through the process of "writing' the numbers down and working through the problem as if I actually had pencil and paper in front of me. Except for basic multiplication, which is done by actually recalling the X tables I first learned on, which was on the back of my scribbler in first or second grade. It's weird, but I can actually picture that table perfectly in my head and get the answer by looking at it and "finding" the appropriate numbers. I can do all this at high speed, but it's definitely happening as I describe.

On a different but related topic, does anyone else have songs running through their head at all times? I do. From the instant I wake up to the time I actually fall completely asleep, there is a song playing in my head. Not just one song, it can be the last song I heard (most often), but sometimes it will inexplicably switch to a song I haven't heard in months or even years. I can have one song repeating over and over again for hours, or the song will switch after a minute or two. It's mostly not the full songs, but portions of them. I absolutely cannot get rid of it either. I think it comes from when I was 3 or 4 years old, my mom told me to sing in my head because I was driving her bonkers with my singing at the top of my lungs. I started singing the songs in my head and soon it morphed into any song I heard, I would actually be "hearing" it in my head long after the song was over.

Right now my brain is switching between the theme to 2 1/2 men (which my wife is currently watching) and the theme to Rockford files (which I think was played briefly on 20/20 last night) every couple of minutes. I actually had one 30 second section of "To tame a land" by Iron Maiden stuck in my head for 4 days...I'm lucky I didn't put a bullet in my brain, I like the song, but jeez... The only time I don't have music running through my brain is when I'm actually listening to music.

Anyways, I must sound like a complete lunatic, but I'd like to know if anyone else experiences something similar to this.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Krack Korn

On a different but related topic, does anyone else have songs running through their head at all times? I do. From the instant I wake up to the time I actually fall completely asleep, there is a song playing in my head. Not just one song, it can be the last song I heard (most often), but sometimes it will inexplicably switch to a song I haven't heard in months or even years. I can have one song repeating over and over again for hours, or the song will switch after a minute or two. It's mostly not the full songs, but portions of them. I absolutely cannot get rid of it either.

Oh absolutely. My friends joke about it all the time. "So, what's playing on DON(my name) FM now?" Sometimes it is a blessing, but other times it is a curse. Like last Wednesday was a comedy of errors.... first I forgot my nano in the charger, and second I accidentally left my iphone playing (it's absolutely stupid how much power gets drained from an iphone playing with NO SOUND). And I got "The Sign" from "Ace of Base" stuck in my head. I asked a co-worker to shoot me. Now, I have found ways of coping that handle this most of the time.... usually I can force a song out by thinking "Devil Inside" by INXS. But in this case, "The Sign" just didn't want to go away. I started calling around to find if anyone in the area had an affordable charger for the iphone. When I couldn't find one, I just jumped on Youtube and watched a couple videos. That held it off until I got home. But yeah, it's constant.... not once has someone asked me "What's playing on DON FM?" and I haven't answered honestly with a song. They think I'm just yelling out random song names.. it's not like I can prove that this song is running through my head.

[BuzzardsWife]

My 8 year old asked me if I think in my own voice. She said when she thinks she hears her own voice. I never thought of that before. But she was right. And she thinks in color too, like me.

[The Fonz]

I've had "Jingle Bells" stuck in my head for atleast 10 years, I hate it. I chatter my teeth to this tune, flick my fingers to it, tap my feet to it, click my tongue to it...almost anything you can think of.

Someday, the stress of this problem will kill me.

[Daradon]

^^^ Whoa that sounds kinda OCD. Do you still do that, have it in your head?

[HalifaxDrunk]

So 4X4 are you gonna change your name to GreenXGreen?

[BuzzardsWife]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

I've had "Jingle Bells" stuck in my head for atleast 10 years, I hate it. I chatter my teeth to this tune, flick my fingers to it, tap my feet to it, click my tongue to it...almost anything you can think of.

Someday, the stress of this problem will kill me.

zThis is actually called Hamster Brain, according to the shrinks. Pills help this. Could be worse, could be an Abba song.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by Daradon

^^^ Whoa that sounds kinda OCD. Do you still do that, have it in your head?

That's what I thought too...my dad has had OCD for years and years, and just got medication for it recently.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by BuzzardsWife

My 8 year old asked me if I think in my own voice. She said when she thinks she hears her own voice. I never thought of that before. But she was right. And she thinks in color too, like me.

I never thought about that before. It would be super cool to have Morgan Freeman as my inner voice though.

Wow, this thread had me thinking about all kinds of things I've never realized or thought of before.

[Flames89]

Interesting video ... hope it is not already in here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vs6R5YZQ3c

[Bagor]

...and then there's the people that can hear what they see.

US scientists have discovered people who can "hear" what they see.
The rare form of synaesthesia - a condition where senses intermingle - came to light after a student reported "hearing sounds" from a screensaver.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7545888.stm

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Flames89

Interesting video ... hope it is not already in here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vs6R5YZQ3c

Pfft. Dustin Hoffman is way cooler.