TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Richard E. Cytowic: What color is Tuesday? Exploring synesthesia

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Imagine a wlord in which you see numbers and letters as crelood even though they're printed in black, in which music or voices trigger a sriwl of moving, colored shapes, in which words and nmaes fill your mouth with unusual flavors. Jail tastes like cold, hard bacon while Derek tastes like earwax. Welcome to synesthesia, the nraouocelgil phenomenon that couples two or more seness in 4% of the population. A synesthete might not only hear my vcoie, but also see it, taste it, or feel it as a physical tucoh. srahnig the same root with anesthesia, meaning no sensation, steyseinhsa means jeniod sensation. Having one type, such as colored hearing, gives you a 50% chance of having a second, third, or fourth type. One in 90 among us experience graphemes, the written etnmlees of language, like letters, nmuelras, and ptuouaintcn marks, as saturated with color. Some even have gdener or personality. For Gail, 3 is athletic and sporty, 9 is a vain, elitist girl. By contrast, the sound units of language, or phonemes, trigger synestetic tastes. For James, college tastes like ssgauae, as does message and similar words with the -age ending. Synesthesia is a trait, like having blue eyes, rather than a disorder because there's nothing wonrg. In fact, all the extra hooks endow synesthetes with superior memories. For example, a girl runs into someone she met long ago. "Let's see, she had a green name. D's are green: Debra, Darby, Dorothy, Denise. Yes! Her name is Denise!" Once established in childhood, pairings ramein fixed for life. sytnseteehs inherit a biological propensity for hyperconnecting brain neurons, but then must be exposed to crlatuul artifacts, such as calendars, food names, and abelhpats. The amazing thing is that a single nucleotide change in the sequence of one's DNA alters perception. In this way, synesthesia provides a path to understanding subjective differences, how two pelope can see the same thing differently. Take Sean, who prefers blue tasting food, such as milk, oranges, and spinach. The gene heightens normally occurring connections between the taste area in his foratnl lobe and the color area further back. But suppose in someone else that the gene acted in non-sensory areas. You would then have the ability to link seemingly unrelated things, which is the definition of mtheopar, seeing the similar in the dmsisiliar. Not surprisingly, synesthesia is more coommn in artists who excel at mnkiag metaphors, like novelist Vladimir Nabokov, painter David hokecny, and copseorms Billy Joel and Lady Gaga. But why do the rest of us non-synesthetes understand metaphors like "sharp cheese" or "sweet person"? It so happens that sight, sound, and movement already map to one another so closely, that even bad vtistruinoelqs convince us that the dummy is talking. mevios, likewise, can convince us that the sound is coming from the actors' mouths rather than surrounding speakers. So, inwardly, we're all synesthetes, outwardly unaware of the perceptual cinloupgs happening all the time. Cross-talk in the brain is the rule, not the exception. And that sounds like a sweet deal to me!

Open Cloze

Imagine a _____ in which you see numbers and letters as _______ even though they're printed in black, in which music or voices trigger a _____ of moving, colored shapes, in which words and _____ fill your mouth with unusual flavors. Jail tastes like cold, hard bacon while Derek tastes like earwax. Welcome to synesthesia, the ____________ phenomenon that couples two or more ______ in 4% of the population. A synesthete might not only hear my _____, but also see it, taste it, or feel it as a physical _____. _______ the same root with anesthesia, meaning no sensation, ___________ means ______ sensation. Having one type, such as colored hearing, gives you a 50% chance of having a second, third, or fourth type. One in 90 among us experience graphemes, the written ________ of language, like letters, ________, and ___________ marks, as saturated with color. Some even have ______ or personality. For Gail, 3 is athletic and sporty, 9 is a vain, elitist girl. By contrast, the sound units of language, or phonemes, trigger synestetic tastes. For James, college tastes like _______, as does message and similar words with the -age ending. Synesthesia is a trait, like having blue eyes, rather than a disorder because there's nothing _____. In fact, all the extra hooks endow synesthetes with superior memories. For example, a girl runs into someone she met long ago. "Let's see, she had a green name. D's are green: Debra, Darby, Dorothy, Denise. Yes! Her name is Denise!" Once established in childhood, pairings ______ fixed for life. ___________ inherit a biological propensity for hyperconnecting brain neurons, but then must be exposed to ________ artifacts, such as calendars, food names, and _________. The amazing thing is that a single nucleotide change in the sequence of one's DNA alters perception. In this way, synesthesia provides a path to understanding subjective differences, how two ______ can see the same thing differently. Take Sean, who prefers blue tasting food, such as milk, oranges, and spinach. The gene heightens normally occurring connections between the taste area in his _______ lobe and the color area further back. But suppose in someone else that the gene acted in non-sensory areas. You would then have the ability to link seemingly unrelated things, which is the definition of ________, seeing the similar in the __________. Not surprisingly, synesthesia is more ______ in artists who excel at ______ metaphors, like novelist Vladimir Nabokov, painter David _______, and _________ Billy Joel and Lady Gaga. But why do the rest of us non-synesthetes understand metaphors like "sharp cheese" or "sweet person"? It so happens that sight, sound, and movement already map to one another so closely, that even bad ______________ convince us that the dummy is talking. ______, likewise, can convince us that the sound is coming from the actors' mouths rather than surrounding speakers. So, inwardly, we're all synesthetes, outwardly unaware of the perceptual _________ happening all the time. Cross-talk in the brain is the rule, not the exception. And that sounds like a sweet deal to me!

Solution

touch
people
sausage
punctuation
cultural
making
synesthetes
sharing
remain
alphabets
voice
composers
neurological
wrong
swirl
dissimilar
numerals
common
movies
ventriloquists
colored
world
senses
joined
gender
synesthesia
frontal
couplings
metaphor
elements
names
hockney

Original Text

Imagine a world in which you see numbers and letters as colored even though they're printed in black, in which music or voices trigger a swirl of moving, colored shapes, in which words and names fill your mouth with unusual flavors. Jail tastes like cold, hard bacon while Derek tastes like earwax. Welcome to synesthesia, the neurological phenomenon that couples two or more senses in 4% of the population. A synesthete might not only hear my voice, but also see it, taste it, or feel it as a physical touch. Sharing the same root with anesthesia, meaning no sensation, synesthesia means joined sensation. Having one type, such as colored hearing, gives you a 50% chance of having a second, third, or fourth type. One in 90 among us experience graphemes, the written elements of language, like letters, numerals, and punctuation marks, as saturated with color. Some even have gender or personality. For Gail, 3 is athletic and sporty, 9 is a vain, elitist girl. By contrast, the sound units of language, or phonemes, trigger synestetic tastes. For James, college tastes like sausage, as does message and similar words with the -age ending. Synesthesia is a trait, like having blue eyes, rather than a disorder because there's nothing wrong. In fact, all the extra hooks endow synesthetes with superior memories. For example, a girl runs into someone she met long ago. "Let's see, she had a green name. D's are green: Debra, Darby, Dorothy, Denise. Yes! Her name is Denise!" Once established in childhood, pairings remain fixed for life. Synesthetes inherit a biological propensity for hyperconnecting brain neurons, but then must be exposed to cultural artifacts, such as calendars, food names, and alphabets. The amazing thing is that a single nucleotide change in the sequence of one's DNA alters perception. In this way, synesthesia provides a path to understanding subjective differences, how two people can see the same thing differently. Take Sean, who prefers blue tasting food, such as milk, oranges, and spinach. The gene heightens normally occurring connections between the taste area in his frontal lobe and the color area further back. But suppose in someone else that the gene acted in non-sensory areas. You would then have the ability to link seemingly unrelated things, which is the definition of metaphor, seeing the similar in the dissimilar. Not surprisingly, synesthesia is more common in artists who excel at making metaphors, like novelist Vladimir Nabokov, painter David Hockney, and composers Billy Joel and Lady Gaga. But why do the rest of us non-synesthetes understand metaphors like "sharp cheese" or "sweet person"? It so happens that sight, sound, and movement already map to one another so closely, that even bad ventriloquists convince us that the dummy is talking. Movies, likewise, can convince us that the sound is coming from the actors' mouths rather than surrounding speakers. So, inwardly, we're all synesthetes, outwardly unaware of the perceptual couplings happening all the time. Cross-talk in the brain is the rule, not the exception. And that sounds like a sweet deal to me!

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

Important Words

ability
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amazing
anesthesia
area
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darby
david
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earwax
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elitist
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nabokov
names
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novelist
nucleotide
numbers
numerals
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sean
seemingly
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sharing
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spinach
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