The emotional tag that comes with synesthesia is quite a powerful one. The taste of a girl’s name was all part of the attraction, and quite a big part at that. Later in life I used the same technique when it came to girlfriends. As a child I used to choose friends according to the synesthetic flavor of their names – they all had very nice-tasting names. Just like the ability to smell or hear, my synesthesia has affected my life in many ways. The synesthetic tastes and textures are automatic – the difficult part comes in trying to articulate some of those complex tastes and textures into something others can easily recognize. I also experience lots of metallic tastes that I can’t fully articulate. The name “Mark” tastes of pencil lead and “David” produces a very strong taste of cloth, a bit like sucking on a cloth sleeve. I also experience a lot of non-food tastes for certain sounds. I didn’t have my first taste of coffee until I was a teenager so that could be a good indicator that my synesthesia taste dictionary is indeed expanding. A possible exception would be the word “coffee,” which does in fact have the taste and texture of strong coffee. I think most of my synesthetic tastes do come from my past and a large number seen to emanate from childhood. Whenever I do, my mind tries to match it up with something I have eaten in the past and it becomes like an obsession and can be very distracting. I quite often experience tastes and textures that I cannot immediately recognize. Do you ever synesthetically taste something you’ve never eaten before? These taste experiences are automatic and cannot be turned off or turned down. If it is a weak one, it will disappear almost immediately or be replaced by another new taste and texture. If it is a particularly strong synaesthetic taste, it will take a while to fade. It comes on immediately and when switched off, it fades away slowly. The individual taste experience is best described as like switching a fluorescent light on and off. It’s like a drip, drip, drip from an eyedropper on my tongue, one taste after another, varying in strength and intensity and each overlaying the previous one. Individual voices have taste and texture, as does all music. The word “like” tastes of yoghurt, the name “Martin” has the tastes and texture of a warm Bakewell tart. If I hear my dog bark, I experience the taste and texture of runny custard in my mouth. This is a real mouthfeel and not just a simple association. One theory is that we all have synesthesia to varying degrees, it is simply that some of us are more aware of the sensory stimuli.Įvery sound I hear, especially word sounds, comes with an involuntary taste and texture experience attached. In some cases, though, this pruning isn’t complete and some extra neural connections remain in place. As the brain develops, a gene comes into play that cuts all the extra connections. Where does synesthesia come from?Īs adults, our five main senses – hearing, sight, touch, taste and smell – are processed by the brain independently, but at birth they are interlinked. For example, someone with synesthesia may hear color or see sound. The stimulation of one sense causes an involuntary reaction in one or more of the other senses. Synesthesia is a neurological trait or condition that results in a joining or merging of senses that aren’t normally connected. I am the President of the UK Synaesthesia Association and have a rare type of synesthesia, which gives me the ability to taste sounds. I was born in Manchester, England, and presently live in Stuttgart, Germany. Meet James Wannerton, one of the 4% of people who have synesthesia, a joining of the senses.