Neuroscience
Just finished Julia Glass's terrific new novel the Whole World Over. Saga, one of the characters, is a synesthete - with words. Here are some examples (taken from the NYT review on June 11, even tho' they fail to identify Saga as a synesthete).
According to the Times, "Saga is afflicted with ... a strange gift for visualizing words: ''The word rape -- a very dark purple, strangely royal.' ''Godfather: Red as a ruby, bottomless vibrant purplish red, a big word, impressive but airy, the silk dragon in a Chinese parade.' ''Accommodations. (A long, long train, all its cars the same dark blue.)' "
There are many more of these lovely word associations, and the book is a great summer read.
- How Remembering Can Lead To Forgetting
Sometimes we're more likely to remember words that we were instructed to forget, while being more likely to forget words that we were instructed to remember. How can this be? Fifty-six students were presented with four words from two different categories,...
- When Castanets Taste Of Tuna
Words have sensory connotations to most of us. The word leathery really does feel ...well, rather leathery. But to some synaesthetes – people who experience a cross-over of the senses – such analogies are literal and can relate to tastes. That is,...
- Tony Blair Tastes Like Desiccated Coconut...
...and 'George Bush is like crusty potato' James Wannerton, president of the UK Synaesthesia Association, explains how the condition which "mixes the senses" affects his life. He is speaking at a conference in Edinburgh where scientists and...
- Word Games For Free Rice
Interesting story on Future Tense this week about a web site called Free Rice.com which asks you to define a bunch of words -- and for every time you click on a definition, the site will donate 10 grains of rice to the hungry. Jon Gordon says that "The...
- Google "cheat Sheet"
Find fun Google techniques on Google's cheat sheet. Finally, some kind of proximity searching with this technique: red * blue. The asterisk, they say, will help find "the words red and blue separated by exactly one word."...
Neuroscience
Synesthesia in fiction
Just finished Julia Glass's terrific new novel the Whole World Over. Saga, one of the characters, is a synesthete - with words. Here are some examples (taken from the NYT review on June 11, even tho' they fail to identify Saga as a synesthete).
According to the Times, "Saga is afflicted with ... a strange gift for visualizing words: ''The word rape -- a very dark purple, strangely royal.' ''Godfather: Red as a ruby, bottomless vibrant purplish red, a big word, impressive but airy, the silk dragon in a Chinese parade.' ''Accommodations. (A long, long train, all its cars the same dark blue.)' "
There are many more of these lovely word associations, and the book is a great summer read.
- How Remembering Can Lead To Forgetting
Sometimes we're more likely to remember words that we were instructed to forget, while being more likely to forget words that we were instructed to remember. How can this be? Fifty-six students were presented with four words from two different categories,...
- When Castanets Taste Of Tuna
Words have sensory connotations to most of us. The word leathery really does feel ...well, rather leathery. But to some synaesthetes – people who experience a cross-over of the senses – such analogies are literal and can relate to tastes. That is,...
- Tony Blair Tastes Like Desiccated Coconut...
...and 'George Bush is like crusty potato' James Wannerton, president of the UK Synaesthesia Association, explains how the condition which "mixes the senses" affects his life. He is speaking at a conference in Edinburgh where scientists and...
- Word Games For Free Rice
Interesting story on Future Tense this week about a web site called Free Rice.com which asks you to define a bunch of words -- and for every time you click on a definition, the site will donate 10 grains of rice to the hungry. Jon Gordon says that "The...
- Google "cheat Sheet"
Find fun Google techniques on Google's cheat sheet. Finally, some kind of proximity searching with this technique: red * blue. The asterisk, they say, will help find "the words red and blue separated by exactly one word."...