Reports of biological and
psychological anomalies dealing with the mind typically invite skepticism from
the public and professionals alike due to the lingering mysteries surrounding a
human brain and its potential. Synesthesia is a term used to describe a
multi-sensory response to a stimulus which traditionally triggers only one
sensory area of the brain. The term synesthesia has two Greek roots meaning
"perception" and "together" which can apply to any
combination of senses. However clinical research finds one of the more common
associations reported among synesthetes to be a mixing of visual with audio
perception upon the resonance of outside sounds. In this case, the interference
that sound creates somewhere among a synesthete's neurotransmitters allows him
to see vibrant colors whenever a spoken word, musical note, or noise is uttered
from his/her external environment. Since at least the early 19th century, both
science and art have raced to discover the nature of this phenomenon and catch
up with synesthesia's puzzling yet seemingly pure harmony. Clinical researchers
continue to piece together universal components of the sound-sight system by
exploring the organization of one's subconscious, while artists seeking
illumination have created mimetic representations as diverse as synesthesia's
variations in form.
Evidence of synesthesia has
been recorded as far back as the 18th century, yet the condition still has
difficulty gaining medical authenticity. Oftentimes synesthetes cannot agree on
which color's essence resides in a specific letter or syllable. Numerous
dilemmas as to synesthesia's true "guidelines" arise in part because
no two synesthetic minds are constructed in the same way. However, numerous
tests performed on an individual who hears colors yields convincing results,
according to Simon Baron-Cohen, due to the unvarying choice of color, among a
vast spectrum, said to describe a given word (Baron-Cohen 1996). Regardless,
the idea of involuntarily seeing color as a result of hearing sound raises interesting
questions about our standard notion of reality and what it encompasses.
Maurer's developmental theory of synesthesia suggests that normal uni-sensory
reality in humans remains only a fragment of what actually exists. He believes
that all infants experience a variation of synesthesia, one comparable to a
drug-induced trip, because the sensory modes in their brains do not
differentiate until after four months of age (Watkins 1997). Assuming his
argument is legitimate, it cannot answer existential queries of whether
specialized or unspecialized sensory cells provide the gateway to an authentic
reality. However, a more tangible explanation for synesthesia can be salvaged
from such speculation. The arrested growth theory which stems from Maurer's
examinations, stating that people with synesthesia may have retained some
pre-developmental connections between their sense receptors, substantiates
synesthesia as a biological occurrence and therefore a condition to be taken
seriously (Baron-Cohen 1996).
Dipping further into the
specific sound-sight connection among synesthesia's wide range of symptoms, one
must take note of basic criteria used to determine a true synesthete. Current
researchers such as Dr. Richard E. Cytowic point out that people who experience
this phenomenon do so involuntarily and unexpectedly. These key traits, in his
opinion, help validate complaints linked to the condition. Since reports
describe "blobs and wavy lines" as opposed to elaborate scenery, one
cannot infer that such sensory output is contrived (Kamel 1996). In other
words, the very obscurity with which objects and colors appear indicate that a
source deeper than the conscious mind is at work. This rationale also implies
that audio-visual synesthesia does not correlate with the conditioning that
befalls every observant individual. Often one develops relationships between
words and colors or music and colors throughout one's lifetime simply because
the two are synchronized enough times. Yet whether this blending occurs
naturally or through influence, the strengthened relationship as a result of
conditioning only manifests itself metaphorically in one's mind. One never
experiences a response beyond psychological symbolism or imagination and
imagination, as Cytowic notes, does not factor into a synesthete's actual
visualization of a sound (Cytowic 1995). Studies which reveal a lowered rate of
blood flow entering the brain during synesthesia support this claim, because
creative thought processes such as visualizing, abstracting, and imagining
require more oxygen through blood cells (Kamel 1996).
Another difference between
synesthete and non-synesthete associations lies in the absence of logic a
synesthete uses in explaining a multi-sensory episode. For example, an
interviewed synesthete claims that a repetitive beeping sound translates,
without a doubt, into flashing purple triangles. It is established that these
triangles always present themselves in the synesthete's external visual field,
along with any external objects perceptible to non-synesthetes. In addition,
neither the subject nor the observer, even when the stimuli is manipulated, can
predict such a response prior to the time when the beeping occurs (Cytowic
1993). Most importantly, though, as sure as the subject appears about her
experience, she cannot easily explain why a union exists between beeps and
purple triangles. As in this case, an overwhelming number of interviewees
resort to "just because" kinds of explanations because the
association makes sense but for no particular reason. In contrast,
sound-symbolism frequently performed by non-synesthetes, which is regularly
mistaken for synesthesia, is valued precisely for the meaningful relationships
it represents. A universal understanding can be identified between a sound and color
when this kind of connection is drawn. For instance, Marilyn Manson and
Metallica music, along with the music of other esoteric rock artists, might
often be associated with the color black because of its dark thematic content.
The predominantly black covers of Metallica's "Black" album and
Marilyn Manson's "Remix and Repent" album indicates self-recognition
of their genre, and thus similar associations between the color black and the
sordid lyrics can be later predicted.
Synesthesia enthusiast Omar
Kamel can cite specific color-tone similarities which correspond to the
experiences an entire group of synesthetes. Uniformity appears to exist when
notes on the C Major scale, a scale omitting sharp and flat notes, are played.
For example, the musical note "C" is equivalent to red by all
accounts because, as Kamel proposes, this note naturally coincides with
infrared light rays on the electromagnetic spectrum (Kamel 1996). He makes a
strong point with this analogy because synesthesia quite possibly allows its
subjects to see a broader scope of perception, in this case a visual map of
sound waves, which the rest of the population is not adapted to see. The
electromagnetic spectrum functions in the same highly evolved way: organisms
only see the portions of light that their eyes are specialized in processing.
The sun exposes human eyes to ultraviolet and infrared rays daily, but the
visual organ cannot decipher these extremes, whereas bats rely heavily on
infrared sensors due to their virtual blindness to white light. Kamel also
explores a connection between synesthesia, the C Major, and the mystical
patterns of Wiccan prophecy. The ancient practice of tarot cards, as Kamel has
discovered, makes the exact same associations between colors and zodiacal signs
as modern day synesthetes do between colors and musical notes. By rearranging
the colors of each numerical card in a spectrum, Kamel shows that the musical
notes synesthetes associate with each color line up incrementally from
"A" to "G." This coincidence is unexpected since the
numbering of a tarot card deck places the colors in random order. His
reshuffling indicates a secret cosmic alignment between the two perceptions of
tonal and pigment values. Just as the card associated with Satan carries
significance only when it is purple, the musical note "A" to a
synesthete must instinctively remain purple in its frequency in order to
maintain the essence of that particular note[1]
(Kamel 1996).
The
synthetic affects brought about by human language cannot be categorized as
easily as tonal values not only because different voices pronounce syllables
and vowels at countless frequencies, but because synesthetes break down words
into different components upon hearing them. In addition, the emotions which
Cytowic emphasizes plays a primary role in synesthetic interactions may limit a
synesthete's ability to analyze an event objectively. In short, even people
with synesthesia can be biased toward certain colors or sounds which may
subliminally alter the feedback they receive. An example of a synesthete's
passion for certain stimulants, as opposed to the signs of indifference found
at the onset of most cross-sensory reactions, is best summed up in Charles
Baudelaire's account of a particular flower:
"Brown and red marigolds above all have a
magical effect on my being, setting me into a deep slumber where I hear them as
from afar the deep mysterious sounds of an oboe." (Marks 1987)
However, in keeping with the natural laws believed to govern synesthesia, primarily in its link to music, discussion of contradicting reports will be kept to a minimum.
This rare condition, seen by many as an endowment denoting enlightenment, has sparked simulations in all disciplines of art where an ambition to modernize the audio-visual media can be found. Synesthesia's artistic origins can be traced as far back as the 19th century, when an aesthetic quality of fusing the senses together became popular and gained momentum toward the middle of the nineteenth century. The color-organ officially made its debut through Rimington's patent in 1893. His design, in which keyboards emitted a spectacle of light and sometimes odor to complement its melodies, constituted only one of many early color-organ attempts. Other experimenters such as Kastner, Jameson, Bishop, and Bainbridge, also pursued the art of generating integral colored music by pairing each organ tone with a tinted or filtered light. (Cytowic 1995, van Campen 1997). Artists Vasilly Kandinsky and Alexander Scriabin emerged a few decades later, in the early 20th century, with compositions that expanded on the idea of simultaneous audio and visual amusement by producing entire operas busier than any before seen. They both tested the coherence of dancers, choral singers, fully equipped orchestras, pianos, organs, and colored light which, for its classical time period, appears a daring and complex feat (Cytowic 1995). Synesthesia evidently motivated the spirit of Scriabin and Kandinsky first hand. Each claimed to hear colors beyond a merely symbolic aesthetic sense, and each canvassed their anomalies in a very public manner during an era when the condition still relied heavily on myth. For instance Kandinsky habitually described a musical event containing an assortment of winds, basses, and strings, as frantically shooting sketches of wild lines into his field of vision. As a result of such bold claims, both virtuosos became forerunners in projecting synesthetic principles the public representation of this inner-psyche occurrence. However Scriabin did not agree with the individual note distinctions made by his peers and predecessors, so he instead focused on color-tonality associations rather than designating a color to every singular pitch as in most color-organ offshoots. Unlike other predominant synesthetes of his era, Scriabin sometimes noticed shifts in color when tone varied even slightly, and he often experienced a wide range of intensities and qualities for a given sound (van Campen 1997). This acknowledgment of synesthesia's relativity diversified its mimetic art experimentation to an even greater degree through the next century.
The aesthetic influence of
cross-sensory associations can also be linked to the Italian and Russian
Futurist movements of the 1920's. Seeking out a new form of artistic expression,
activists such as Luigi Russolo of Italy and Arseni Avraamov of Russia began
experimenting with a medley of unique visual and audio techniques in an effort
to arouse more than one sense organ at the same time. This overlapping, they
believed, could create a greater impact in their respective audiences. Russolo
reinvented music by fabricating the intonarumori, or "noise intoning"
instruments which created entertainment by generating noise. Much like the
letter-color and syllable-color distinctions among synesthetes, Russolo
constructed a distinct notation of noises, in his essay Art of Noises, which differentiated into six categories ranging
from deep rumbles and roars to the most subtle of whispers. Around the same
time, futurist Arseni Avraamov similarly explored unchartered musical territory
with his Symphony of Factory Sirens.
He simultaneously set off vivid fireworks displays and directed a makeshift
ensemble of horns to produce one of the earliest cross-sensory public
performances comparable to a synesthete's everyday stimulation (Kahn, Whitehead
1992).
The 20th century
has continued to experiment with audio-visual associations, although today's
mimetic art, which encompasses Disney's Fantasia
and Stephen Nachmanovitch's "Visual Music Tone Painter," covers too
vast an audio realm to delve deeply enough into its daily findings to do the
topic justice. One project, created by Berkeley researchers Stephen Malinowski
and Lisa Turetsky, utilizes twelve basic colors to analyze the digital bar
patterns of timeless pieces such as Chopin's Prelude and Nocturne
(www.well.com/user/smalin/circle.html). Ron Pellegrino and Greg Jalbert boast
websites describing similar marvels devoted to this type of experimental
technology, as well. The illustrations and sound-color schematics of the
present day provide an endless array of artificial synesthesia for the curious
and less enlightened public eager to share in its stimulation. Perhaps the 21st
century will provide more pieces to the puzzle of this meagerly explained sensation,
if not provide a full biological blueprint of the origins and structure of
synesthesia, themselves.
Works
Cited
Baron-Cohen, Simon. "Is
There a Normal Phase of Synaesthesia in Development?" Psyche 2(27),
June 1996.
van Campen, Cretien.
"Synesthesia and Artistic Experimentation." Psyche 3(6),
November 1997.
Cytowic, Dr. Richard E. The
Man Who Tasted Shapes. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1993.
Cytowic, Dr. Richard E.
"Synesthesia: Phenomenology and Neuropsychology." Psyche
2(10), July 1995.
Kahn, Douglas, and
Whitehead, Gregory. Wireless Imagination: Sound, Radio, and the Avant-Garde.
Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1992.
Kamel, Omar.
"Synesthesia.": 1-4. Online Internet. Available
http://www.ad-i.com/viral/what/synes2.html.
Malinowski, Stephen, and Turetsky,
Lisa. "Inside Music: The Music Animation Machine.": 1-2. Online
Internet. Available http://www.well.com/user/smalin/circle.html.
Marks, Lawrence E.
"Perceiving Similarity and Comprehending Metaphor." Monographs of
the Society for Research in Child Development. Vol. 52. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Watkins, Christopher.
"Synaesthesia: Is It The Key To Consciousness?": 1-10. Online
Internet. Available http://www.ex.ac.uk/~cwatkins/synaesth.htm.