Subject
Re: Fwd: synesthesia & Nabokov ...
From
Date
Body
----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 17:36:45 -0300
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Reply-To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Subject: Re: Fwd: synesthesia & Nabokov ...
---------------- Message requiring your approval (168 lines)
------------------
There are other suggestions of a different kind of sensuous convergence in
VN. If we select the sentence Carolyn Kunin has mailed to the list with her
prefatory observations included:
"All this discussion recalls a passage in Pnin in which a physician's ear
applied to a young Pnin's ailing chest ambulates about in the manner of a
sea-creature of some sort. A wonderful image combining attributes of sound
and motion:
'Then Timofey's torso was bared, and to it Belochkin pressed the icy nudity
of his ear and the sandpapery side of his head. Like the flat sole of some
monopode, the ear ambulated all over Timofey's back and chest, gluing itself
to this or that patch of skin and stomping on to the next' ."
We find an aural peace while imagining an icy ear-shaped sea-creature, a
monopode, ambulating and gluing itself on Timofey´s torso, soon enhanced by
another suggestion, the fish ( a sole ) flattened at the bottom of a
sandpapery sea. But then the fish becomes the base of a foot ( the foot
sole) and the silence turns into a "stomping".
As C.Kunin noted, while still reminiscing about an image "combining
attributes of sound and motion", there are in the sentence she finally
located in Pnin all sorts of sensuous elements blending and unfolding...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 4:07 PM
Subject: Fwd: synesthesia & Nabokov ...
EDNOTE. VN's synaesthesia is described in Chapter II of SPEAK, MEMORY.
-----------------------------------
----- Forwarded message from spklein52@hotmail.com -----
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 22:40:09 -0400
From: "Sandy P. Klein" <spklein52@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
Subject: synesthesia & Nabokov ...
http://www.health24.com/mind/Other/1284-1303,18442.asp[2] Red music
and chocolate-flavoured textures
Health24.com, South Africa - 13 hours ago
... Famous examples of synethetes include novelist Valdimir NABOKOV,
composer Franz Liszt and artists David Hockney and Wassily Kandinsky.
...
[3] You are in: Health24[4] : Mind[5] : Other[6]
Red music and chocolate-flavoured textures
Imagine a world where you feel sounds, taste music or see letters
and numbers in colour. This may sound strange to most of us, but for
synesthetes these perceptions are part of everyday life.
The word synesthesia (from the Greek words syn = together and
aesthesis = perception) means "joined sensation". It is a condition
in which different senses mingle into one. One sense modality
reliably causes an additional perception in a different sense or
senses.
DIFFERENT TYPES
It takes different forms. Nineteen different combinations have been
identified. But the combinations are almost limitless because a
synesthete may have more than one form of the condition.
The most common form appears to be seeing colours in numbers and/or
letters. This is called colour-language synesthesia. But other less
common experiences are also possible. A synesthete may report that
she feels piano music tickling her cheeks or that a person's voice
tastes like chutney.
In most cases, the sensation is triggered by external stimuli but in
some cases it could be purely internal, such as associating the
concept of a day or year with a sensory experience.
The sensory association is usually projected outside of the body,
such as seeing the letter in colour, rather than in the mind's eye.
INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE
Synesthesia is a highly subjective, individualised experience.
Colour-language synesthetes, for example, don't agree on which colour
goes with which number or letter. However, a remarkable number agree
that the letter "o" is white.
Intra-sensory associations remain constant throughout the person's
life. For example, someone who sees a number in green will always see
this number in the same colour. In a study in 1993, synesthetes were
92% consistent in linking certain colours with certain sounds after a
year. Non-synesthetes on the other hand were only 32% accurate after
only one week.
The condition is involuntary and sensory associations cannot be
suppressed. However, some people are able to ignore the associations.
This condition starts in childhood - in fact, synesthetes usually
say that they have had this condition since they can remember.
Synesthetes typically think that everyone else perceives the world in
the same way and only find out much later that their experience is
unique. Because synesthesia is so unknown and misunderstood, many
people keep quiet about their condition for fear of ridicule or being
misdiagnosed as psychotic.
BETTER MEMORIES
Synesthesia is not a psychiatric disorder. Synesthetes are fully
functional and psychologically stable, are usually highly intelligent
and have excellent memories. The synesthetic associations help them to
remember telephone numbers, appointments, names and the like. However,
they may have minor difficulties with mathematics. Some also struggle
with spacial navigation such as distinguishing left from right or
following directions.
There is no treatment for this condition. Even if there were, most
synesthetes would not want to be treated as they see their condition
as a gift and an aid which optimises their functioning. In fact, many
describe non-synesthetes as seeing the world in black and white.
WHAT CAUSES IT?
The exact cause is not yet known. Synesthesia is a very difficult
condition to study because research is anecdotal and has relied on
self-report. What we know is that it is unlearned and involuntary. We
also know that it has a genetic cause - many synesthetes have parents
or siblings with the condition.
Some believe that all people are born synesthetes and have many
neural connections between different areas of the brain. In
non-synesthetes, many of the cross-wiring dissapear and the areas of
the brain become more separated. In people with synesthesia, these
connections remain for the rest of their lives.
Recently, researchers have begun to study this phenomenon by using
magnetic resonance brain imaging (MRI). It has been reported that
images of the brains of colour-language synesthetes or those who
report coloured hearing, show increased activation of the
colour-processing areas of the cortex in response to the triggering
stimulus.
A form of synesthesia can be acquired later in life. Acquired
synesthesia is seen in temporal lobe epilepsy, head trauma, and mass
lesions affecting the medial temporal lobe. It may also be induced
temporarily by sensory deprivation, antiserotonergic hallucinogens
such as LSD and peyote, or direct electrical stimulation of
subcortical limbic structures.
WHO HAS THIS CONDITION?
No-one knows how prevalent this condition is. Estimates vary from
between one in 2 000 and one in 25 000 people. It is more common in
women than in men and left-handed people are more affected.
Famous examples of synethetes include novelist Valdimir Nabokov,
composer Franz Liszt and artists David Hockney and Wassily Kandinsky.
- (Ilse Pauw, health24 writer)
Post a question to Cybershrink.
[7]
Links:
------
[1] http://www.health24.com/
[2] http://www.health24.com/mind/Other/1284-1303,18442.asp
[3] http://www.media24digital.com/
[4] http://www.health24.com/default.asp
[5] http://www.health24.com/mind/1284.asp
[6] http://www.health24.com/mind/Other/1284-1303.asp
[7] http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html?HONConduct564544
----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 17:36:45 -0300
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Reply-To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Subject: Re: Fwd: synesthesia & Nabokov ...
---------------- Message requiring your approval (168 lines)
------------------
There are other suggestions of a different kind of sensuous convergence in
VN. If we select the sentence Carolyn Kunin has mailed to the list with her
prefatory observations included:
"All this discussion recalls a passage in Pnin in which a physician's ear
applied to a young Pnin's ailing chest ambulates about in the manner of a
sea-creature of some sort. A wonderful image combining attributes of sound
and motion:
'Then Timofey's torso was bared, and to it Belochkin pressed the icy nudity
of his ear and the sandpapery side of his head. Like the flat sole of some
monopode, the ear ambulated all over Timofey's back and chest, gluing itself
to this or that patch of skin and stomping on to the next' ."
We find an aural peace while imagining an icy ear-shaped sea-creature, a
monopode, ambulating and gluing itself on Timofey´s torso, soon enhanced by
another suggestion, the fish ( a sole ) flattened at the bottom of a
sandpapery sea. But then the fish becomes the base of a foot ( the foot
sole) and the silence turns into a "stomping".
As C.Kunin noted, while still reminiscing about an image "combining
attributes of sound and motion", there are in the sentence she finally
located in Pnin all sorts of sensuous elements blending and unfolding...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donald B. Johnson" <chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 4:07 PM
Subject: Fwd: synesthesia & Nabokov ...
EDNOTE. VN's synaesthesia is described in Chapter II of SPEAK, MEMORY.
-----------------------------------
----- Forwarded message from spklein52@hotmail.com -----
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 22:40:09 -0400
From: "Sandy P. Klein" <spklein52@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: SPKlein52@HotMail.com
Subject: synesthesia & Nabokov ...
http://www.health24.com/mind/Other/1284-1303,18442.asp[2] Red music
and chocolate-flavoured textures
Health24.com, South Africa - 13 hours ago
... Famous examples of synethetes include novelist Valdimir NABOKOV,
composer Franz Liszt and artists David Hockney and Wassily Kandinsky.
...
[3] You are in: Health24[4] : Mind[5] : Other[6]
Red music and chocolate-flavoured textures
Imagine a world where you feel sounds, taste music or see letters
and numbers in colour. This may sound strange to most of us, but for
synesthetes these perceptions are part of everyday life.
The word synesthesia (from the Greek words syn = together and
aesthesis = perception) means "joined sensation". It is a condition
in which different senses mingle into one. One sense modality
reliably causes an additional perception in a different sense or
senses.
DIFFERENT TYPES
It takes different forms. Nineteen different combinations have been
identified. But the combinations are almost limitless because a
synesthete may have more than one form of the condition.
The most common form appears to be seeing colours in numbers and/or
letters. This is called colour-language synesthesia. But other less
common experiences are also possible. A synesthete may report that
she feels piano music tickling her cheeks or that a person's voice
tastes like chutney.
In most cases, the sensation is triggered by external stimuli but in
some cases it could be purely internal, such as associating the
concept of a day or year with a sensory experience.
The sensory association is usually projected outside of the body,
such as seeing the letter in colour, rather than in the mind's eye.
INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE
Synesthesia is a highly subjective, individualised experience.
Colour-language synesthetes, for example, don't agree on which colour
goes with which number or letter. However, a remarkable number agree
that the letter "o" is white.
Intra-sensory associations remain constant throughout the person's
life. For example, someone who sees a number in green will always see
this number in the same colour. In a study in 1993, synesthetes were
92% consistent in linking certain colours with certain sounds after a
year. Non-synesthetes on the other hand were only 32% accurate after
only one week.
The condition is involuntary and sensory associations cannot be
suppressed. However, some people are able to ignore the associations.
This condition starts in childhood - in fact, synesthetes usually
say that they have had this condition since they can remember.
Synesthetes typically think that everyone else perceives the world in
the same way and only find out much later that their experience is
unique. Because synesthesia is so unknown and misunderstood, many
people keep quiet about their condition for fear of ridicule or being
misdiagnosed as psychotic.
BETTER MEMORIES
Synesthesia is not a psychiatric disorder. Synesthetes are fully
functional and psychologically stable, are usually highly intelligent
and have excellent memories. The synesthetic associations help them to
remember telephone numbers, appointments, names and the like. However,
they may have minor difficulties with mathematics. Some also struggle
with spacial navigation such as distinguishing left from right or
following directions.
There is no treatment for this condition. Even if there were, most
synesthetes would not want to be treated as they see their condition
as a gift and an aid which optimises their functioning. In fact, many
describe non-synesthetes as seeing the world in black and white.
WHAT CAUSES IT?
The exact cause is not yet known. Synesthesia is a very difficult
condition to study because research is anecdotal and has relied on
self-report. What we know is that it is unlearned and involuntary. We
also know that it has a genetic cause - many synesthetes have parents
or siblings with the condition.
Some believe that all people are born synesthetes and have many
neural connections between different areas of the brain. In
non-synesthetes, many of the cross-wiring dissapear and the areas of
the brain become more separated. In people with synesthesia, these
connections remain for the rest of their lives.
Recently, researchers have begun to study this phenomenon by using
magnetic resonance brain imaging (MRI). It has been reported that
images of the brains of colour-language synesthetes or those who
report coloured hearing, show increased activation of the
colour-processing areas of the cortex in response to the triggering
stimulus.
A form of synesthesia can be acquired later in life. Acquired
synesthesia is seen in temporal lobe epilepsy, head trauma, and mass
lesions affecting the medial temporal lobe. It may also be induced
temporarily by sensory deprivation, antiserotonergic hallucinogens
such as LSD and peyote, or direct electrical stimulation of
subcortical limbic structures.
WHO HAS THIS CONDITION?
No-one knows how prevalent this condition is. Estimates vary from
between one in 2 000 and one in 25 000 people. It is more common in
women than in men and left-handed people are more affected.
Famous examples of synethetes include novelist Valdimir Nabokov,
composer Franz Liszt and artists David Hockney and Wassily Kandinsky.
- (Ilse Pauw, health24 writer)
Post a question to Cybershrink.
[7]
Links:
------
[1] http://www.health24.com/
[2] http://www.health24.com/mind/Other/1284-1303,18442.asp
[3] http://www.media24digital.com/
[4] http://www.health24.com/default.asp
[5] http://www.health24.com/mind/1284.asp
[6] http://www.health24.com/mind/Other/1284-1303.asp
[7] http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html?HONConduct564544
----- End forwarded message -----
----- End forwarded message -----