Synesthesia vs subconscious connotation?

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r84shi37
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28 Jan 2015, 9:45 pm

I'm not sure if I have synesthesia or not. I get colors for every letter, number, and day of the week at the very least... but I wonder if they are just little connotations I make subconsciously and not true synesthesia. The reason I suspect this is for instance...

T is green... but they both have the E sound.
P is red... but maybe that's because it almost looks like a capital R and r is the first color of red?
Friday is yellow-red... F is red though... and it also kind of looks like R.
D is brown... not sure why. maybe because brown has an oww sound and O looks like D?
1 = light yellow
2 = T and green
3 = red
4 = blue
5 = kind of redish... it's a weak one.
6 = orange red
7 = brown red
8 = purple... but Q is purple too and Q and 8 are similar in a way.
9 = red brown (different from 7)
0 = white
10 = black

Moving on... if I take any number say... (closing my eyes) 5y73 oops I hit y but I'll go with it. It's red. but that's probably just because there's a 3 and a 5 in it.

Thursday and Tuesday are both dark green... just like the letter T. I doubt that's a coincidence.

So is this different from synesthesia since I can find relations between the pre-existing relations if I really think about it... or is it, in actuality, just what synesthesia actually is?

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slave
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28 Jan 2015, 10:04 pm

r84shi37 wrote:

People that do not have synesthesia do not EVER have an natural association between numbers and colors and they are shocked to hear that anyone(like you) does.
What you describe is standard fare for the descriptions I've read made by those with synesthesia.
I am certain that other synesthetes here will agree.

r84shi37
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28 Jan 2015, 11:00 pm

slave wrote:

I recall describing the feeling to others since I was 9. I just wasn't sure if there was a difference because, like I said, when I really examine them I find connotations that actually make sense.

Thanks.

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StarTrekker
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29 Jan 2015, 9:55 pm

r84shi37 wrote:

Thursday and Tuesday are both dark green... just like the letter T. I doubt that's a coincidence.

You're correct, it's not. Most colour-grapheme synaesthetes, myself included, see words in a single colour, most commonly the colour of the word's first letter. It's very rare to find someone who sees words in which each individual letter is separated into its own colour. Case in point, for me the word "Wednesday" is entirely yellow, because the W is yellow; I don't see it as yellow, yellow, minty green, brown, yellow, red, minty green, apple green, yellow.

Your description definitely sounds like real synaesthesia to me. To be really sure, you can go to synesthete.org and take the grapheme-colour test, it'll tell you.

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dryope
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30 Jan 2015, 5:35 am

Can I ask a little more about this? I strongly associate colors (and personalities) with letters, but I don't physically see them that way on the page. I do see them that way in my mind's eye when I think of the letter though.

I've never understood if synesthetes were really seeing these colors in print or just in their imagination (but automatically and consistently in their imagination).

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dianthus
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31 Jan 2015, 11:54 am

From synesthete.org

Quote:

Projectors and Associators are proposed forms of synesthesia that describe how you experience your synesthetic percept. If you are classified as an 'Associator', it means that your synesthetic associations (like colored letters, for example) are experienced in your mind's eye. When shown text on a page, Associators know that each letter has a color, but they don't actually see color on the page. If you are a 'Projector', it means that you physically see the color projected onto the page in front of you. A positive score is classified as a projector and a negative score is classified as an associator.

Most of the time people with synesthesia see the colors in their mind. Some actually see the colors physically, but that's less common.

I see the colors in my mind. I don't see a whole word as one color. I see a mix of colors but sometimes it's hard to pinpoint which letters are which colors. Like the word "Wednesday" is mostly a mix of red blue and green because D is always green, E is always blue for me, and A is always red.

r84shi37
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01 Feb 2015, 12:34 am

dryope wrote:

or just in their imagination (but automatically and consistently in their imagination).

It's in my imagination. However, it's quite clear in my imagination. For instance, one of my favorite colors is the color of steel... but not the actual color of steel- rather something more like #A9E2F3 (light blue for those who don't want to plug the code in). #A9E2F3 comes pretty close anyway.

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dryope
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01 Feb 2015, 9:03 pm

Thanks very much! Looks like I have it then.

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GamerPrincess
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01 Feb 2015, 10:25 pm

To add a bit more details, I will quote this paragraph from synaesthesia.com

Quote:

Some synaesthetes state that they see the colors of letters with their "mind's eye". These people are known as "association-synaesthetes". However, about 10% of synaesthestes, state that they perceive colors as if they are projected directly onto the letter on the page. Such synesthetes are known as "projector-synaesthetes"

Personnally, I am an association-synaesthete and I only see vowels and numbers in colours. The words get tinted by the vowels it contains. Regular letters (except vowels) are black but silent letters are white/transparent.
Interestingly enough, I also "see" colour that don't exist (It's really hard to explain, I've been trying to find the colour of 6 for years. Closest I can name is yellow I guess)
(I also see sounds in colours and can feel texture of a sound. Some voices feel like sand paper it's just horrible :/)

lucygp
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01 Feb 2015, 11:56 pm

The words get tinted by the vowels it contains.

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Pjscrab
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13 Aug 2018, 12:12 pm

GamerPrincess wrote:

To add a bit more details, I will quote this paragraph from synaesthesia.com

Quote:

I know this an old thread but I just wanted to revive it to see if anyone that has synesthesia can explain what kind of synesthesia they experience.

I think some letters if not all have colors in my minds eye.

Some letters also cause a taste in my mouth. Like J tastes sweetish like a banana and is yellow.
D is brown and tastes bitter.

I also always associate the F key on the piano with color pink and it causes a very sweet taste in my mouth.

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