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Synesthesia and Creativity
Aaron Paskin
Math of the Universe – 89S
Hubert Bray
27 September 2016
Introduction
What if each number had its own unique color? The number eight would always
be, say, a light green, the number three a dark red. Would math be easier to
understand? How about music notes? What if a D note was always yellow, a C note
blue with pink polka dots? Maybe playing instruments would be easier. Or, what if
each month of the year had a very specific position in space? Perhaps July would
always be to your right, October above your head. Would keeping track of dates and
historical events be easier? There are some people who unintentionally and
automatically make these associations between numbers and colors, or sequences and
positions in space, for example. These people have a fascinating mental condition
called synesthesia.
Figure 1: from www.synesthesiaworld.com
What Is Synesthesia?
Synesthesia is a mental condition in which the stimulation of one sense triggers
the stimulation of another sense. Taking many different forms, synesthesia may cause
a person to automatically associate each number with a different color, each musical
note with a different taste, or even each letter with a different personality. The strength
of these associations can range from simply being reminded of a second sensation
upon experiencing the first to being distracted and overwhelmed by the synesthetic
reaction. For example, one synesthete with a weak form of the condition may only see
a color in his/her mind’s eye when encountering a number while another person with
more severe synesthesia may not be able to listen to music without experiencing an
inundation of seemingly real tastes and/or other sensations.
Indeed, synesthesia can be both a benefit and a disadvantage. Take the
example of a synesthete who associates each number with a different color. This
person may find it easier to solve mathematical equations and sort dates and times than
someone without the condition. However, people with this type of synesthesia have
reported emotional and even physical discomfort upon seeing a number depicted with a
color that does not match the color evoked by their synesthesia.
Synesthetic reactions are always consistent and not learned. That is, using the
previous example, a synesthete who associates numbers with colors always associates
the same color with each number. If the number four evokes a bright green, it will
always evoke that bright green for the given synesthete. The number eight might be
red, the number nine yellow, etc. Furthermore, these associations would not arise at
some point in the middle of a synesthete’s life or go away at another point. Synesthetic
reactions are present and consistent for the entirety of a person’s life.
Types of Synesthesia
Synesthesia can take on a multitude of different forms, perhaps more than might
be guessed. The condition can pair far more senses than just the main five (sight,
hearing, taste, touch, and smell), resulting in documented cases of synesthesia
involving sensations of pain, movement, and temperature, to name a few. Based on the
number of combinations alone, the types of synesthesia vary by the dozen. To explore
the potential of enhanced creativity in synesthetes, we need only to examine a few of
the most common types.
Grapheme-color synesthetes associate digits, letters, or other figures with
specific colors. As in the earlier example, each unique grapheme evokes the sensation
of seeing a distinct color, whether it be seeing the color abstractly or seeing the given
grapheme written in the color. People with this type of synesthesia may find it easier to
sort, distinguish, and manipulate numbers and letters, possibly leading to greater
creativity. Grapheme-color synesthesia is one of the most common types of
synesthesia.
Some synesthetes associate sequences such as months, days of the week, and
years with positions and/or shapes in space. A person with this type of synesthesia,
known as spatial sequence synesthesia, might see the months of the year projected in
the space around him/her, with August two feet ahead and October a foot above the
person’s head. The positions of sequence components, much like the colors of figures
for grapheme-color synesthetes, are constant throughout a spatial sequence
synesthete’s life, so August and October would always take their same positions for the
person in the previous example. This consistency might make it easier for a person
with this type of synesthesia to organize dates and/or keep track of time.
Chromesthesia is a type of synesthesia that results in the association of sounds
and music notes with specific colors. A person with chromesthesia may simply see
single colors in reaction to single pitches, or they may see many different colors or
colored shapes at once in reaction to music. This association of colors with sounds can
unleash immense creativity in music, as evidenced by the large amount of musicians
who exhibit chromesthesia.
In analyzing the different types of synesthesia, it is easy to set forth propositions
about how the condition might enhance a person’s creativity. Fortunately, there are
studies and many examples of especially creative figures with synesthesia that can be
used to potentially confirm these propositions.
Figure 2: from www.theodyesseyonline.com
Synesthesia and Creativity: Research
There is no easy way to measure a person’s creativity. While IQ’s and test
scores are commonly used in an attempt to quantitatively measure a person’s
intelligence, creativity is almost always gauged using anecdotal evidence. For example,
people who engage in activities such as music, drawing, and writing are generally seen
to be more creative. Studies have shown that synesthetes are more inclined to
participate in such activities, offering strong evidence for enhanced creativity in those
with synesthesia.
Rich, Bradshaw, and Mattingley (2005) surveyed 192 self-identifying synesthetes
and 50 controls in Australia and found that while only one of the 50 controls held an
artistic occupation, 46 of the 192 self-identifying synesthetes were musicians, writers, or
other artists. That’s 24% of the surveyed synesthetes, compared with the less than 2%
of Australia’s population with artistic occupations. Trends in the hobbies of synesthetes
versus controls were weaker but still conclusive: controls were just as likely to have
hobbies in crafts or music, but significantly more synesthetes had hobbies in art
(painting, drawing, etc.) than did controls. It must be noted that the synesthetes who
were surveyed in this study were aware of their condition and volunteered to answer the
study’s questionnaire, so it is unclear whether or not those synesthetes who are
unaware of their condition participate in the same amount of creative activity as do the
self-identifying synesthetes. Despite potential bias, the high frequency of artistic
occupations and hobbies among the synesthetes in Rich, Bradshaw, and Mattingley’s
study cannot be ignored.
Rothen and Meier (2010) took a different approach by measuring the frequency
of synesthesia in art students versus the frequency of synesthesia in controls. They
took samples of 99 art students and 96 controls and tested each person for graphemecolor synesthesia. Rothen and Meier found that while only about 2% of their control
sample exhibited grapheme-color synesthesia, 7% of their sample of art students
exhibited the condition. This evidence of synesthesia’s greater presence among art
students is further strengthened by the fact that the synesthetes found in the samples
were not self-identifying, avoiding the bias that was potentially present in Rich,
Bradshaw, and Mattingley’s study. While Rothen and Meier’s study does not directly
measure creativity, it provides strong anecdotal evidence for the increased presence of
synesthesia among creative people such as art students.
Perhaps the most significant and conclusive study on creativity in synesthetes
was conducted by Chun and Hupe (2015), who were two of the few synesthesia
researchers to directly measure creativity. After an intense period of systematic
recruiting which resulted in a sample of 29 synesthetes and 36 controls, Chun and Hupe
conducted several tests to quantitatively measure the creativity of each member of the
sample. These tests included the Remote Associates Test, in which the participant is
asked to identify the conceptual link that ties three words together; the Visual
Associates Test, in which the participant is asked to identify the conceptual link that ties
three images together; the Alternative Uses Test (Guilford, Christensen, Merrifield, &
Wilson, 1978), in which the participant is asked to provide as many uses for specific
everyday objects as possible; the Torrance Figural Test for Creative Thinking (Torrance,
1966), in which the participant is asked to draw original stories based on provided
abstract shapes, lines, etc.; and two types of the Verbal Fluency Test, in which the
participant is given a set period of time to name as many unique items in a given
category as possible and another period of time to name as many unique words
beginning with a given letter as possible. The synesthetes in this study were found to
be stronger in convergent thinking than the controls, exhibiting greater success in the
Remote and Visual Associates Tests. Furthermore, synesthetes were more original but
not more quantitatively productive than controls in divergent thinking, indicating greater
qualitative success in the Alternative Uses, Torrance Figural, and Verbal Fluency Tests.
These successful results, paired with a significant reduction of bias from past studies,
provide strong evidence towards enhanced creativity in synesthetes.
Synesthesia and Creativity: Examples
While the systematic studies conducted by researchers such as Chun and Hupe
provide rather concrete (and at times even quantitative) evidence of enhanced creativity
among synesthetes, there are also a multitude of examples of especially creative
figures in the fields of music, visual art, math, and science who have synesthesia.
Synesthesia is possibly most famous for its presence among some of the most
successful musicians. Musicians such as Mary J. Blige, Duke Ellington, Billy Joel,
Eddie Van Halen, Pharrell Williams, Stevie Wonder, and Kanye West all have
chromesthesia, and many of them claim that the colors associated with the sounds they
hear help them make their music. In an interview with Maureen Seaberg, singersongwriter Billy Joel described, “I would say the softer, more intimate songs -- there's
'Lullaby (Goodnight My Angel), 'And So It Goes,' 'Vienna' and another called, 'Summer,
Highland Falls' -- when I think of different types of melodies, which are slower or softer, I
think in terms of blues or greens...When I [see] a particularly vivid color, it's usually a
strong melodic, strong rhythmic pattern that emerges at the same time. When I think of
these songs, I think of vivid reds, oranges and golds.”
Figure 3: from www.synesthesia-test.com
Many famous and successful visual artists have also exhibit synesthesia.
Vincent Van Gogh was documented as comparing painting styles to the “sound peculiar
to a violin” (Seaberg). Animator Michel Gagne, who has chromesthesia, animated a
scene in the Pixar movie Ratatouille that features the main character experiencing
synesthetic color reactions to tasting different foods and flavor combinations.
Furthermore, Richard Feynman, one of the greatest and most creative minds
ever in math and science, had grapheme-color synesthesia. In his autobiography What
Do You Care What Other People Think?, Feynman wrote, "When I see equations, I see
the letters in colors – I don't know why. As I'm talking, I see vague pictures of Bessel
functions from Jahnke and Emde's book, with light-tan j's, slightly violet-bluish n's, and
dark brown x's flying around. And I wonder what the hell it must look like to the
students" (Feynman, 59).
With countless more examples, there is a clear and strong presence of
synesthesia among the most creative figures in many varying fields. While it is not
possible to directly attribute these figures’ creative successes to their synesthesia, there
is evidence here for a positive correlation between synesthesia and creativity.
Conclusion
Many synesthetes claim that their condition does not hurt or help them. Even
those with severe synesthesia say that at worst it can be distracting. Conversely, it is
clear that synesthesia has the potential to yield benefits. As shown by the previously
explored studies and by the anecdotal evidence, synesthetes can use their condition to
creatively propel them in the arts and in math and science. While there is no way to
concretely measure creativity, there is substantial evidence that people with synesthesia
are especially creative.
Works Cited
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