* Painting by Melissa McCracken who uses her synesthesia to produce gorgeous splashes of color. She sees sounds, feels numbers and can hear colors. Most synesthetes consider their ability a gift.

* I think we all have shades of this unique ability.

* Grapheme - In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system.

* Synesthesia - New research reveals genetic mysteries behind synesthesia, a condition in which different senses seem to be crossed up in the brain, causing a person to taste words, see sounds or even feel numbers and see them in space. The phenomenon has been intriguing neuroscientists for years and this research could unlock new doors to understanding how our brains process sensory input.

Scientists have observed that synesthesia seems to run in families and woman are more affected by the condition than men.

While nearly any sensory combination is possible in synesthesia, here are some of the most well-known ways it manifests:

* Auditory-tactile synesthesia occurs when a sound prompts a specific bodily sensation (such as tingling on the back of the neck).

* Chromesthesia occurs when certain sounds (like a car honking) can trigger someone to see colors.

* Grapheme-color synesthesia occurs when letters and numbers are associated with specific colors.

* Lexical-gustatory synesthesia occurs when hearing certain words triggers distinct tastes.

*Mirror-touch synesthesia has been described as a kind of supercharged empathy: A person feels as though they are being touched if they witness it happening to someone else. It can be benign such as an observed advantage in recognizing facial expressions or burdensome, as in the case of a neurologist who felt intense pressure in his chest when he saw a patient receiving CPR.

* Number form occurs when a mental map of numbers involuntarily appears whenever someone thinks of numbers.

* Ordinal linguistic personification is a kind of synesthesia where ordered sequences (e.g., the days of the week) are associated with personalities or genders.

* Spatial sequence synesthesia involves seeing numbers or numerical sequences as points in space (e.g., close or far away).

* Can you have multiple types of synesthesia?
Many synesthetes have more than one type of synesthesia. Also most synesthetes consider their ability a gift.

You need to login or register to write reviews. It's quick! We only ask four questions to new members.