List of people with synesthesia

List of People with Synesthesia

Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with synesthesia, known as synesthetes, may, for example, hear colors, see sounds, or taste shapes. This article provides a list of notable individuals who have been confirmed to have synesthesia.

Artists

• Vincent van Gogh - The famous Dutch post-impressionist painter is believed to have had chromesthesia, a type of synesthesia where sounds translate into colors. His vibrant color choices in paintings may have been influenced by his condition.
• Wassily Kandinsky - A Russian painter and art theorist, Kandinsky is often credited with painting the first purely abstract works. He had synesthesia and believed that colors and sounds were deeply connected.

Musicians

• Pharrell Williams - An American singer, rapper, and record producer, Williams has spoken about his experience with synesthesia, where he perceives music as colors.
• Lorde - The New Zealand singer-songwriter has disclosed that she has sound-to-color synesthesia, which influences her music production and songwriting process.

Authors

• Vladimir Nabokov - The Russian-American novelist had synesthesia, which he described in detail in his autobiography, Speak, Memory. He experienced the condition as colored letters and sounds.
• Neil Harbisson - A contemporary artist and cyborg activist, Harbisson was born with achromatopsia (total color blindness) but uses a device that translates colors into sounds. Though not a synesthete by birth, his experience closely mimics synesthesia through technology.

Scientists

• Richard Feynman - The Nobel Prize-winning physicist is known to have had a form of synesthesia where he saw equations in colors, which aided his problem-solving abilities.

Others

• Daniel Tammet - An English essayist, novelist, poet, and autistic savant, Tammet has linguistic, numerical, and visual synesthesia. He experiences numbers as shapes, colors, and textures.

See Also

• Neurology
• Cognitive neuroscience
• Sensory perception