Synae…what? Synaesthesia? That tastes weird.

There are some things I question in life. Like how some people have the phobia of the feeling of peanut butter stuck to the roofs of their mouths or how apparently some people have the phobia of ducks watching them... I think I have the phobia of cats watching me. Cats make me feel uncomfortable. They stare. It's creepy. Anyway, today I read about a neurological condition known as "Synaesthesia". According to trusty Wikipedia, "Synaethesia" refers to the neurological condition "in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second cognitive or sensory pathway". This sounds dull reader (oh! I mean readers! Hi Em!), but let me assure you it is amazingly fascinating!

For instance, one form of "Synaethesia" is known as "Lexical-Gustatory" which is a strand of sensory/cognitive confusion whereby people can actually taste words. The word "word" for example may taste like roast potatoes. The word "table" might taste like gummi bears. The word "sky" could potentially taste like cabbage. What would make things really confusing would be if the word "chocolate" tasted like soy sauce! Weird.

This makes me think about individual differences in perception and how the brain receives and processes information differently. Or worse still, receives information from the external world and contorts it. I often contemplate the affects of insanity and how people can have wildly animated conversations with themselves. I've seen people laugh uncontrollably, swear, argue, sob and discuss the weather with themselves being the only apparent audience. It would appear that whatever they are seeing is as clear as day...to them at least anyway. This concerns me and makes me think, perhaps I am insane? The way we interpret sensory information is subjective and the mind is our own private little world. For example, there is no way we can be exactly sure that how we experience pain from an open flame is the same as the person next to us. We can only make assumptions that their physiological response to pain induced from a burn is similar from their verbal descriptions of their experience. We can't feel what other people feel or see through another person's eyes... Anyway, going back to the point regarding my sanity, for all I know everyone around me could be a figment of my imagination! What if they were simply my own conjured-up apparitions. Thinking about these things makes my brain hurt and feel incredibly burdened so I will stop now.

These thoughts have been stressing me out so I'm glad I've dumped them on here.

On another note, tomorrow's to-do list:

Coffee with Meagan and Brodie
Borrow 'The Philadelphia Story'
Pirate as much music as possible (maybe even pirate pirate music. Sea shanties?)
And apps, apps, Apps! (job application that is, not iphone apps you nerds!)

Goodnight
xoxo