With the landscape drowned in darkness, only a dull glow from the half-moon illuminates the tree tops.

A group of friends are out spotlighting in the wilderness, hoping to catch a glimpse of a fox, possum or armadillo in its natural beauty. Even with the scurrying of the foliage accompanied by a chorus of howls, bellows and squeals, the group is blind to any would-be creature in this dark abyss. Marianne, however, sees the world differently. She perceives the pitch-black backdrop as a blank canvas. For Marianne, the canvas comes to life through the sounds of the wildlife. When an animal calls, its like a white, electric-like lightning color that clearly stands out against the sky. It guides me. Its peaceful. Walking along at night and seeing the sounds of nature. Marianne has synaesthesia, a condition where input from one sense is perceived through another sense. The sensation of joint perception effects synaesthetes differently, depending on the variation of the condition. Common types of synaesthesia involve a neurological association between food, letters, words and colors. Mariannes particular condition is sound-color synaesthesia whereby sounds become visual through the perceived association with color. For her, and many other synaesthetes, the world is more than clearly defined spectrums, it is a fusion of overlapping sensory impressions. Monday is red. Tuesday is blue. Angus experiences grapheme-color synaesthesia. He associates specific colors with letters, numbers and days of the week. It can get a bit complex, says Angus. It is difficult explaining exactly what synaesthesia is to somebody who doesnt have it. People think of me as weird, or are afraid of how I think because they dont understand where its coming from. I cant really explain it to them, its just in my head. From a scientific perspective, the back portion of the brain is devoted to vision, with the occipital lobe catering to colors. The temporal lobe controls language, words and letters. In a

synaesthete, these areas have a connection that triggers a colour experience. I just tell people its when two of your senses cross over to make life beautiful, says Angus. How can you live with it? Angus cannot envision life without it. I cant imagine how someone who isnt a synaesthete can think at all. If you cant visualize it, how is it even in your head to begin with? David Eagleman, Neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine likens an experience with synaesthesia to reading a book. When you are reading a book, you dont think of it as black and white text, you visualise the story from the words as you read them. Its the same with synaesthesia. Certain words and sounds inspire color, but its not distracting because it is connected to that particular train of thought. The condition is sensitive, thus easily influenced by a number of internal and external factors. For synaesthetes, the intensity of their experiences fluctuates, depending on how they are feeling, or what they have eaten. When they are inebriated, tired, emotional or stressed out, their synaesthesia becomes richer and increases in intensity. In contrast, certain substances like antidepressants tend to subdue the effects of synaesthesia. Headache pain is a greenish orange. In 2006, Derek Amato suffered a serious head injury after he struck his head while diving into a swimming pool. Amato awoke a musical genius, able to play classical piano. He had no musical training, and was unable to read musical notes. Instead, he sees black and white squares that move laterally in his mind and imitates the movement on the piano keys. Amatos newfound genius has been partly attributed to synaesthesia. Amatos case brought the rare, relatively unknown condition back into the spotlight. Eagleman explains that synaesthesia was initially discussed in the late 19th century but only now has it returned as a topic of discussion in the scientific community. There was an interest in synaesthesia 150 years ago before the school of behaviourism took over, says Eagleman. Talking

about what goes on the inside of the human mind fell out of the scientific consciousness in favour of behaviour studies. However, synaesthesia has had a renaissance over the past decade. A great interest in understanding the neural basis of perception has prevailed, says Eagleman, How some people can perceive the world different from others is something that will always garner interest. Music by Nirvana tastes like Pepsi. Synaesthesia often goes undiagnosed until later on in a persons life because it is integrated with their perception of the world. For Marianne, it was not until she was a freshman in college that she became aware of her condition. I was reading an article in the newspaper about how musicians occasionally see music as colors. It struck me as odd that someone would write an article about only occasionally seeing music, when surely they all see music as color. When I took the article to my mother, who was a musician, she had no idea what I was talking about. Angus says despite being unaware of his condition, certain aspects in the world around him didnt always make sense. I can remember hearing the school bell and thinking how unfair it was to the all the boys in the class because it made a pink sound. One is white. Two is red. Synaesthetes embrace their condition, often viewing it as a blessing rather than a curse, but it does result in some unusual occurances. Normally, because of synaesthesia, I am great with numbers, but occasionally Ill have an issue because of it. If I see four green plates on a table for example, it is intrinsically incorrect for me as four is blue and three is green. It should either be four blue plates or three green plates, says Alex, a synaesthete that experiences the sensation pertaining to numerals. For Angus, mathematics is unusually difficult. Its strange because many other synaesthetes benefit from their condition when it comes to numbers, says Angus, One plus one equals two, which seems simple enough. However for me, it means white plus white equals red, which really doesnt make much sense so I have always found math confusing.

Marianne on the other hand, utilizes the condition in her own unique way. When I am dating, I tend to orientate to peoples voices who look nice, if that makes sense. The deeper the tone of voice, the darker the shade of colour it is. I prefer warmer voices, like an orange or red. The sound from a saxophone is a writhing mass of neon purple snakes. A psychologist will tell you it is a disorder. A neuroscientist will tell you it is a disease. But speaking with a synaesthete, they will tell you its not a disease or a disorder. It is a way of life. Some people are afraid of others who see the world differently, but synaesthesia is nothing to be afraid of. It is an in-road into understanding how the mind works. It provides an understanding as to why people see, feel and hear the world differently from one another.