We watched that Synaesthesia video that my Biology teacher had promised us today.

It turned out to be an episode of the BBC documentary Horison, titled Derek tastes of earwax (dont ask!).

It was satisfying to find some sort of scientific explaination behind this "weird thing" that I have. The programme focused on the different types of Synaesthesia, introducing the "symptoms", and trying to convey how a Synaesthete sees the world, although i didn't think they did it very effectively as my friends afterwards seemed to belive that i see a rainbow tickertape of letters in front of my eyes every time they say something.

What was really interesting however, was that a man who had become blind after childhood had the same type of Synaesthesia as me, confirming the theory that it is something to do with a mixing of the senses during childhood learing and development.
My teacher proposed the theory that synapses in different areas of the brain which control different senses may be leaking into each other, abnormal spatial summation?

Also, apparently the condition has been found amongst relatives suggesting that as well as being influenced by early environment, it is 70% gene controlled. No one in my imediate family has it however.
Furthermore, 1 in 100 people have some form of it so its not actually that wierd.

Part of the programme was filmed at UCL, where a Senior Lecturer, Jamie Ward is leading research into Synaesthesia. Something he mentioned led me to discover another tangent of synaesthesic behaviour:

DR JAMIE WARD: Lots of synaesthetes said that they have number lines in which numbers were arranged out in space. And this was very exciting because it was as many as 60 per cent of people who have coloured numbers also see numbers being arranged in space, which is a huge percentage of the synaesthetic population.

NARRATOR: But the true revelation came when he ran an experiment with a group of non-synaesthetes.

DR JAMIE WARD: One experiment involves showing numbers on a computer screen and what people have to do is make a decision about those numbers with their left and their right hand. So for example they might judge whether a number is odd or even. And what we find is that people are faster at responding to small numbers such as one or two with their left hand and faster at responding to larger numbers such as eight and nine with their right hand. So it appears as if we all have a number line that runs from one on the left through to nine and so on on the right hand side.

NARRATOR: So it seems we all have a sense of numbers arranged in space. These number lines suggest to Dr Ward a reason why synaesthesia might exist in the human population.

DR JAMIE WARD: One clue for why synaesthesia might survive is that it enables us to deal with abstract concepts such as numbers and other sequences in a very concrete way using our senses.

DR JAMIE WARD: What we do is we actually put these sequences into a special arrangement and this seems to be common to each and every one of us but its something that Synaesthetes are very aware of but most of us are not aware of.

MAN IN PARK:Yeah hi mate, yeah hi.

NARRATOR: So synaesthesia may be a more extreme form of something we've all had to develop.

MAN IN PARK: You've booked a table yeah? What six people, no you need to make it more, about eight.

As the man in the park mentions eight, he moves his hand from infront of him, slightly to the right. Seeing that made me realise i do the same. I associate small numbers, or more specifically, the early part of the day with my left, and larger numbers or the later part of the day with the right.
I could not believe that none of my friends do this, i was convinced that it was something subconscious that everyone did. Do you?

It also went on to mention the kiki-booba test, which 95% of people get right, proving that everyone, to a degree, are synaesthetes. Some how we associate "round" sounds like booooo-baaa with round, curvy shapes, and "sharp" sounds like ki-ki with pointy shapes.

The programme then went on to suggest the benefits of synaesthetes in society and the advantages they have over others...

PROFESSOR VS RAMACHANDRAN: Very often in biology when you find a gene that doesn't have an apparent function, a non-functional gene, there's usually hidden agenda. So what might the hidden agenda be in the case of synaesthesia, why is it so widely prevalent?

NARRATOR: When he looked for answers, one thing in particular struck him.

PROFESSOR VS RAMACHANDRAN: The clue comes from the fact that synaesthesia is eight times more common among artists, poets and novelists than the general population.

NARRATOR: He began to develop a daring theory. Could synaesthesia help explain creativity?

It was really interesting to watch, not only because i have Synaesthesia, but because the brain is so enigmatic. We will probably never discover why or how it occurs, only theories.
However more research into it may now be opening a window into mankinds greatest mysteries and some of our greatest achievements.


The programme transcript can be found here.