It is possible, but very uncommon, for some synesthetes to feel tactile sensations triggered by seeing different colours. For these to be considered synesthesia they would have to be involuntary and also basically consistent, i.e. the same colour would always evoke the same sensation, even if it doesn't happen every single time the subject perceives the colour. There would also have to be a correspondence between each particular colour and a specific sensation, different for each one (so red = sting, light blue = tickle, black = pins and needles, for example), or each colour would have to create a tactile perception in a particular part of the body (red = forehead, blue = feet, etc.). Such a type of synesthesia would probably only occur in people with a high “synesthetic disposition”, i.e. with numerous types and strong concurrents, and it would be likely to occur at times when they were specifically focusing on the colour in question, rather than being perceived at all times. As far as I know no studies have ever been conducted on this type of synesthesia.
Here
are some descriptions by people who report having had this type of sensations
at some time:
“As a kid, I had color-tactile synesthesia: I felt colors inside my mouth, not as flavors but as tactile experiences such as cold, hot, coarse, soft, bumpy, etc.”
(Source: CC Hart, a synesthetic artist and medical professional, interviewed in the online magazine Psychology Today. 2016.)
“Color
> Touch? Happened just now. I started looking around myself, at every single
object, and focus on that color. It instantly gives me a sensation on a
specific part of my body. Examples: Light yellow: nose Dark blue: between chest
and neck White: sides of the neck Red: right foot Black: around the mouth.”
(Source: This post on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2020.)
Here is an interesting case of a person for whom colour-tactile synesthesia can sometimes occur in response to colours not seen in everyday life but induced by sound, as they have both auditory-visual (timbre/voice-colour) and auditory-tactile synesthesia:
“I have Chromesthesia and I hear colours specifically with songs, a lot of the time it relates to voice and timbre.
Basically, when I hear these colours, I also feel them too. To be specific, white feels like a scraping at the back of my sternum, going up. Like if someone were to scrape a spoon up the back of my sternum. Green (including grey-greens) I mostly feel through my shoulders and my collarbone/neck and rarely my jaw. It’s like a tightening/throbbing. Browns feel like a prickle at the back of my skull, and not like the skin on my head literally my skull. These are just a few examples (…). I see the colours from songs in my head, but I also feel them in different parts of my body.”
“I don’t feel the sensation when I see colours just when I hear them. I guess it’s kind of like a process?? Like it starts with the music, and then I’ll feel the sensation, which then translates to the colour, and sometimes vice-versa.”
(Source:
This post/comment on Reddit/Synesthesia. 2022.)
Do blindfolded mediums correctly guess colours "using their synesthesia"?
This
is a slightly different topic, but some people claim to have the ability to
correctly determine the colour of objects when blindfolded, by touching or perhaps smelling the
object in question, sometimes attributing it to their “synesthesia”. Without
broaching the subject of the possible methods they might use to do this, it
should be clarified that it has nothing to do with synesthesia, as in order for
a synesthete to be aware of their concurrent – a sensation in part of their
body, in the case of colour-tactile synesthesia, or a sensation of taste, smell
or sound for other types, all of them rare although they do exist – they have
to actually perceive the colour, i.e. see it, before feeling the concurrent.
Go to the page on colour-to-smell synesthesia
Go to the page on colour-to-taste synesthesia
Go to the page on colour-to-sound synesthesia
Go to the page on tactile-visual synesthesia (seeing colour or images in response
to tactile sensations)
This page last updated: 9 June 2024
If I drag my fingers over a surface made of the same material but different colors, I can tell the difference between colors. Colors that absorb more light feel fuller and lighter than colors that don't absorb as much light. Is that synesthesia?
ReplyDeleteHi! That's interesting. I presume that what you're referring to is that you touch the coloured surfaces without looking at them and say that some surfaces must be a lighter colour because they feel fuller and lighter to the touch, is that so? If that's what you say, that isn't connected with synesthesia, because synesthesia would only be if you perceive the colour (i.e. see it or think of it) and that perception would in turn give you a secondary perception that could be for example a smell, a tactile sensation, etc.
DeleteI thought everyone felt sensations when they looked at color combinations. I thought that was why people liked or disliked colors in the first place. Today, I found out that feeling chest pain from looking at yellow and purple together was unusual.
ReplyDeleteIt's not so much colors as color contexts, and different color combinations. For example, yellow and purple, a goldenrod to darker violet, are painful and in my chest. It's my least favorite color combination. On the other hand, a yellow and blue combination are not painful, and I feel them in a totally different spot, kind of at my nose, a pleasant tingly feeling, and yellow and brown, like with sunflowers are neutral-pleasant and in my forearms and hands.
Mint green and white feel nice, and I feel it like a tingling in my eye area.
cyan and brick red feel neutral-unpleasant, across the top of my chest, from shoulder to shoulder.
It's very color-specific. The shade, saturation, tint, etc all matter for the sensations I get and their locations. So some color combinations make me feel in pain, and others make me feel nice or neutral in different areas.
I generally need to actually look directly at the color combinations in order to get the physical sensations. I don't get them just by imagining the colors, except in memory, but it isn't the same. It's like remembering being pricked by a needle or having a bruise, you know? Your memory can kind of remember the pain, but it's not possible to really recreate unless you are experiencing it.
The pain is kinda mild-ish? It hurts enough to make me unhappy. Feels like a mild ache in different areas. Pleasure feels nice, often like a buzzing. Neutral is best expressed as a pressure, and can lean pleasant or unpleasant, depending. It feels like a spectrum of sensations.
I don't think I have any other kind of synesthesia. Not really. I mean, maybe sound to taste? but it's not nearly the same as color to tactile as far as how it affects me.
Color gradients and ombres, made of many different colors, can mitigate the painfulness of the combinations sometimes, or change the sensation because they technically add more colors to the mix and change it that way.
I can't really imagine being any different.