Wassily Kandinsky: The Power Of The Senses

The Power of the Senses A famous Russian artist by the name of Wassily Kandinsky once said that “Color provokes a psychic vibration. Color hides a power still unknown but real, which acts on every part of the human body.” Many would would assume this sentence is mere artistic effusion. However, Kandinsky describes a very real condition, known as synesthesia, which can manifest in many different forms, including individuals hearing colors or tasting sounds. Before diving into the many ways this condition shows itself, one must have some background knowledge. Synthesia is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a subjective sensation or image of a sense (as of color) other than the one (as of sound) being stimulated.” Stated plainly, it

However, Grossenbacher and his team believe a different mechanism from within the brain is to blame. They claim that within the brains of synesthetes, certain connections are not inhibited properly, specifically the connections that “carry information from high-level multisensory areas of the brain back to single-sense areas.” Normally, these connections run smoothly, and all information is sent to its appropriate sense. However, in Grossenbacher’s theory, the connection is disrupted, and the senses therefore become jumbled in synesthetes. Grossenbacher says his theory is supported by the fact that “hallucinogenic drugs can temporarily induce synesthesia,” and drugs interrupt normal brain connections as

One such form is called lexical-gustatory synesthesia. According to SynesthesiaTest.org, this form causes individuals to taste different flavors when certain words or sounds are heard. Tilda Swinton, an actress best known for her role as the White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia, actually has this form. She claims that “The word ‘word’ is a sort of gravy. ‘Table’ in a slightly dry cake. ‘Tomato’ is not actually tomato, it’s lemony.” Unsurprisingly, lexical-gustatory synesthetes are often the only synesthetes that complain about the condition according to InsideScience.org. As one can imagine, not all words or sounds can taste like