I'm Unique, Just Like Everyone Else

  Wednesday is Indigo Blue - Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia, by Richard E. Cytowic, M.D. and David M. Eagleman, Ph.D.

Recently there was a fascinating profile on neuroscientist David Eagleman in The New Yorker.  (The Possibilian by Burkhard Bilger, April 25, 2011.)  While the article focused on his research on time perception and the brain, Eagleman has also done research on synesthesia, a neurological condition whereby stimulation of one of the senses yields perceptions in another sense.  A sort of crossed wires in the brain, where hearing music, say, causes one to see colors (to give one example).  Eagleman is a pretty interesting guy (he also writes fiction, though I haven’t read any of it), so I checked out one of his earlier books.  I have a form of synesthesia myself, so I thought, cool!  Maybe my boring old self is actually one of those unique creative types.  (Famous synesthetes include Vladimir Nabokov, David Hockney, Franz Lizst - good company to be in.)  Alas, it turns out that I have the most common form of synesthesia - graphemes-colors, which means I perceive numbers and letters as particular colors.  Nothing terribly interesting about that.  Nevertheless, it was fun to read about people who taste colors when they eat, or who hear colors when they listen to music.  Lots of interesting brains out there.  Also, I got a little ego boost when I learned a study of synesthetes revealed that they are smarter, more creative and more flexible thinkers than the controls.  Even though, again, I have the most common, *un* interesting kind of synesthesia.  But the thought that I may have as yet undiscovered depths of smartness or creativity is a comforting one!