Spatial Sequence Synesthesia
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I post a picture and just a few words.
What IS it?
Basically, people with this kind of synesthesia visualize things like numbers, years in history, days of the week, months of the year.
So, for instance, when I think about the months of the year, they appear on sort of a racetrack shape in my head, and when I think of certain events, I place them at the appropriate point on the track.
(You can see my track on the top right in this photo.)
I also have a visual number line in my head that I use for math problems; mine starts at the bottom with 0 and then goes basically straight up into the air, with divisions at every multiple of 10. When I do mental math, I am always jumping around on this mental number line.
I used to think everyone visualized things in their head, and was very surprised when I learned, a while back, that that's not the case.
(Related: I also used to think everyone sneezed in the sunshine, but as an adult, I became enlightened!)
I really can't imagine trying to function without my mental pictures...it helps me with math, remembering my daily and weekly tasks, and remembering dates and events in history.
But to someone without this kind of synesthesia, I know this all sounds kind of crazy.
Brains are just such interesting things, aren't they??
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So, now I'm curious. Do any of you have spatial synesthesia?
I totally have this but I didn't know there was an actual name for it. My week is sort of circular with Saturday and Sunday actually taking up more space (even though clearly those days aren't longer)! My husband think I'm crazy when I try to describe this to him. Glad to hear I am in good company!
Yeah, my months of the year are uneven too, for some unknown reason! July is in the middle at the bottom, but then December/January meet off to the side a bit.
This sounds like my year. July at the bottom. December at the top. Also my Saturday and Sunday are as big as the rest if the week combined. And sept-novemeber is as long as January to June! Can we start a Facebook group and post our diagrams?
Oh my gosh I thought everyone saw things this way! I was trying to explain it to my church group, but most of them just saw the seperate individual days. I didn't know it was a synesthesia thing! For me January is curved a bit inside of the circle, and everything else goes in almost a circle, but December and January never touch, so after new years I kin d of have to jump over to January instead of slide like I do with the other months.
I just yesterday discovered that this is an actual thing! Seeing you mention you're church group make me think you might be a good person to as about how having this "condition" affects you're life as a Christian (assuming that's the kind of church you go to!)
I find that anything that involve relational feelings really hard to grasp because i can't visualise any of it. It's left me in my Christian life feeling very distant and disorientated with my understand of my own faith.
Any thoughts?!
Thanks
Mr. FG too! He just can't really fathom this.
My daughter and I also have spatial synesthesia, but we also have the added fun of color synesthesia as well! My dates and calendars etc are on a circular path, and numbers are in block type structures, and everything is in a color! I found out that my daughter had it when she was just a toddler - she would tell me things like "the pink 6" and I realized she had both colors and number/order synesthesia! My son doesn't have it at all though!
I have the color form, too! Not as strongly as a classmate in college, though. She would draw complex drawings while listening to music because it was what she saw. I just have an involntary color (and smell) association with numbers, days and certain words. Monday is very dark. Seven is kind of a muted burnt orange with loads of attitude, and December smells cozy with soft light with a blacked out background, and it's triangular shaped. None of that makes sense when it is written, I suppose, but that's how my brain works!
I, too, think in images! I just figured everyone did and didn't realize there was a name for it.
I have this too! But I wasn't aware there was a name for it. I have explained it to others in my family and they think I'm crazy. All mine are very linear. Do you also frequently catch yourself randomly counting things? If I am bored (or if I'm supposed to be concentrating on something that isn't very interesting) I'll catch myself counting things or pairing things off, normally by two's or three's.
Yes! When I was young, if I entered a room full of people, I counted fast in my head. I didn’t want to be thinking of nothing. But it wasn’t something I consciously decided to do. It was automatic. I also pair all m&ms before eating them. I don’t eat an odd one left over. My calendar orbits my head like the earth orbits the sun. Always elongated. Before Christmas, I face December/ January, but turn the corner and face June/July as we pass New Years.
I think very circular too! I have to have a dry erase calendar on the fridge because I like to "scroll" it. My parents & husband still think I'm crazy for doing it, but every month flows into the next in my head. I also have to pair things like M&Ms or skittles. Colors are paired & they're eaten 2x2 only.
My daughter told me this morning that she visualizes letters and numbers in specific colors. 0 is transparent, 1 is white, 2 is lime green, 3 is pink, 4 is purple or brown, 5 is red, and so on. All numbers are outlined with a thick black line.
This is really interesting. I've never really thought about how I think about passing time. Though I am extremely linear when looking at planning things for the home or my classes and everything has to line up perfectly. Emailing this article to my hubby now!
Oh my! I have gone my entire life thinking that everyone must think this way! How fascinating to realize that this isn't the case! I'll be discussing this article with my husband tonight- I think he will appreciate knowing a little more about the craziness that takes place in my mind!
When I think about the days of the week and my schedule and such I just see a blank! I definitely don't have your super power.
OK-I love this blog but yesterday I started getting all comments sent to email and I don't know how to stop it. I have not asked for this and I have not had this issue before. Does anyone know how to stop all the comments from going to my email!
Click on the "no replies" or unsubscribe to comments--not the blog itself-- and they should stop.
In each email you get with a comment, there should be an unsub link! Just click on that and it should stop the problem. You probably just accidentally checked the box for follow up comments, or there was a glitch. Let me know if you have any more trouble after you unsub!
Based on your description, yes! Maybe my hubby does not, which explains some things. Thanks for the insight; my frustration with him is at a high level as he just retired and is underfoot, um, I mean, at home alldayeveryday.
I can't say I even understand what you are talking about! LOL But whatever works for you or anyone is fine.
I do this too, but I thought everyone did! Had no idea there was a name for it. Now I can't wait to get home and see if my kids and hubby do this too.
Wow! I thought everyone did that. Also, there's another synesthesia I have: I picture words, esp. days of the week and numbers, in colors. Do you do that as well, Kristen? When I hear words from people, I run a ticker tape in my mind of what they are saying. That's why when I meet a new person, I might ask, "Oh, your name is Kristen. Is that with an E?" I have to know to run the tick tape. I have an equally strong visual and audio mode--that's what I've been told.
My husband sees numbers in colors!
Joshua has some color synesthesia, but mine is just spatial. All of my mental diagrams and such are just black and white.
HOWEVER! I love to know how someone's name is spelled, because I always see names in my head all spelled out and I like to have it right. Also, once I've seen someone's name written out, I will rarely forget it, but if I just hear the name, I usually forget it.
This is totally how I am with names. I ALWAYS ask for a spelling if it's a different name. Then I can picture it in my head and remember it. People are always amazed at how well I can remember names.
I associate things very strongly with colors, too. Sometimes things/people/events/whatever in my life change colors; do yours? That's why I've doubted what's going on in my head actually a synesthesia, but maybe that's just part of it.
Oh, that sounds like color synesthesia to me!
Joshua sees some music with colors...like certain albums feel like a particular color to him.
Cool. It's a pretty fun thing to have, really.
For me its all about color. I remember things best when I make a mental image that includes color. If I had to do a days of the week diagram it would be a straight line with each day a different color. They would be colored based on my liking of those days.
Yes! I was just thinking about this the other day and wondering whether it was strange that I visualize the months of the year as a cycle in my mind. Glad to know I'm not the only one 🙂 My view looks a lot like yours, Kristen, but my perspective is always changing depending on the month (obviously). So now, I'm seeing the year from October and looking across to March. My months are pretty evenly spaced, although I do get the feeling I'm looking at the present month through a "fisheye" lens where everything is just a little more magnified. Also, the seasons and holidays are intertwined, as are the colors/images usually associated with each. It's definitely strange to think about, but I can't imagine seeing it any other way!
Yeah, I sort of mentally travel around the track, but I sort of view if from a little bit above rather than right on the track. Ha.
I guess my months in a year are kind of an oval with the cold months at the top and the warmer months at the bottom, Spring months on the left and Fall on the right. Numbers and ages of people sort of go up and to the right. I thought everyone saw numbers like this. I also find myself counting almost everything. I wonder if this had anything to do with my becoming an accountant. Also, I never get lost and I always remember how to get back to somewhere that I have been to only once. I wonder if that's part of it.
After reading about this, I looked it up in Google and found this site. It gives a test and you can sign up for a monthly email with facts about it. http://www.synesthesiatest.org/
Thanks for the link, Dianna. Very interesting. I am not a synesthete but I think, like so many commenting today, that the brain is a fascinating thing.
OK... so I went and took the quiz and to my utter surprise it said I was a synesthete! Unfortunately, I don't have the variety that would be useful at all... the senses I have crossed are sound and taste. Hmmm.... Guess I never thought about it before, guess I sorta thought everybody thought certain kinds of music sounded tangy, or sweet or spicy. Very interesting!
I definitely don't have this. I'm very linear. But at least 2 of my kids do, although I've never asked them how they picture the days of the week. 🙂
I first heard about this thing (but not the name) when my now-15 year old son was 3 and tested off-the-charts in visual-spatial categories. I found an excellent book that helped me to understand how he thinks--it's called Upside-Down Brilliance, by Linda Kreger Silverman. Kids who think in abstract ways and who aren't very linear often have a hard time in school (which traditionally has been taught in a linear-sequential style), and are frequently mis-diagnosed with ADHD. This book explains the thinking style, has questionnaires to help you know if your kid thinks this way, and gives ideas for how to help your kid navigate the linear school world.
I've referred to it often over the years, and my oldest daughter read it to better understand herself when she was in high school. I can't recommend it highly enough!
(I'm not the author, I have no financial interest in selling copies of this book; rather, I enjoy passing along resources that I've found helpful.)
I'm glad there's a name for it! I don't know if I have the same thing, but I visualize the days of the week and months of the year from right to left.
Yes, brains are interesting things. My best friend cannot remember what things look like unless they are right in front of her or she's looking at a photo. She thought everyone was like this until she was a grown, married woman! For example, if her husband leaves the house, she can't visualize his face, although she remembers his general characteristics like blond hair and glasses. Same way with places. (this is not the same as face blindness in which people can't recognize faces of people they know even when in their presence). Very interesting.
Whoa, that would be crazy! Huh. I'm so, so visual with my memory, I can't imagine trying to operate without it. But I bet she can't imagine trying to operate WITH all the visual memories!
I have no visual memory at all- not for faces, places, people or things. All my memories are sound (unless I know you very well, I need you to actually speak in the street before I can recognise you!) and I think in sound as well. To use your example, the days of the week and months of the year have rhythm and pitch but no picture, and I talk myself through every math problem because drawing a diagram or manipulating objects doesn't help.
Growing up the phrase 'close your eyes and picture...' used to baffle me no end until I learned that most people had pictures in their imaginations instead of sound. I also never understood the appeal of audio books until someone (visual) explained to me that it let them see pictures evoked by the words without also having to absorb the words visually - for me, audio books are just boringly slow (my mental voice processes text much more efficiently!).
I have to say that I'm certainly on the oral/aural end of the spectrum. I can visualize things but it takes a LOT of work. But, I have a very clear audio memory of things - like I can play back a recording of someone saying xyz thing.
I've always used rhythm and rhyme to help me remember things - well that and music. Set something to music and it's in my brain forever. I used to memorize things in school by replacing the lyrics to a song with whatever it was I was trying to remember. Did that once with some stupid poem I had to recite in English class and it was REALLY hard not to hum as I was doing my recitation!
Oh, I hear you on this one. I cannot even tell you what my mother's face looks like!
I think that's why I value photography so much.
Robyn, I'm rather like your friend. Has she explored it further and know a name for it? I've always said I have some face blindness (well, for the last 10 years or so when I learned about it). I can't recognize people in photos a lot either. With lots of repetition, yes. And I know people I'm close with or see a lot. But ask me to describe what my relatives look like. Ummmm.... If I hadn't seen my daughter's baby pictures for the last 10 years, I'd swear they weren't pictures of her. They do NOT look like her as far as I can tell (my husband disagrees!). I can work with someone for years and not know them outside of work (and sometimes not inside either, especially if there's someone simliar to them in build/coloring/hair. (Don't get me started on movies--I have a very hard time following if two characters are similar, such as two white men of the same height.)
I've long been fascinated with synesthesia, but sadly don't have it. I've checked in with my daughter now and then, but she doesn't either. 🙁
Hello! I’m Robyn’s friend Valerie. I have just recently discovered a name for this. a·phan·ta·si·a
/ˌāˌfanˈtāzēə/
the inability to form mental images of objects that are not present.
For my husband, numbers have colors associated, and I've heard of people who associate feelings with numbers. I visualize the data of the week as Monday-Friday in one line, and Saturday and Sunday in another, right next to it. I also feel other people's pain. When I see someone get hurt, or see blood (usually lots, not just a scraped knee) I get a weird tingling feeling all over. I recently read that it's a form of synesthesia.
Some people associate personalities with numbers and letters too!
And numbers have personalities, and equations are relationships...
I have done that since I was a small child! I thought it was just an overactive imagination.
I don't have this, but there is a pretty short fiction book about a girl finding out she has it - both spacial and numbers and colors. It is called A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. They also discuss ways to enhance certain parts of the synesthesia in the book as well, and while I do not have it, it really helped me in understanding it. You and Joshua might want to check it out!
In our family we have words and emotions (and music as it evokes emotion) that each have particular colors associated with them. This all reminds me of Oliver Sacks, the neurologist who wrote many books about how our brains perceive things, my favorite being The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - really interesting...!
Wow! I never knew there was a name for it, but I totally do this type of thing!
I have it, too, and similar to another commenter, the current day is "magnified" compared to those before and after. My husband does not have it. We are very different in the way we think; he is a big-picture person and I am detail-oriented, and he is practical while I am a dreamer. I often wonder if it's all related 🙂
I'm like that to an extent, but my husband is as far on the other end of the spectrum as possible. He's basically incapable of visualizing anything, no matter how hard he tries (elementary school was awful for him, with all the demands to "draw a picture to go with it"). It makes for some interesting conversations!
Hi there, how did you determine that you were this way? Was there a test that you took or something?
I think it was when a friend of mine mentioned it...prior to that, I thought everyone thought that way, and I had no idea there was a name for it!
Fascinating. So how do you handle places? I mean, CatMan and I talk about this all the time and he says he basically has an internal map in his head at all times, and even if he's in a place he's never been before, as he moves around the map gets created. Me, on the other hand, I tend to see things almost like a tunnel full of pictures. I remember what places look like, and I know if I went left, right or straight to get there, but I can't place them in relation to each other very well.
I never understood how people could use the wrong there/their/they're or hear/here or your/you're or to/two/too (I could go on and on) until I realized that they didn't "see" the words when they were reading and writing, they "heard" them. When I read a sentence with the wrong word, it really takes me a while to figure out what's it's supposed to be saying.
Also, I totally thought that the sun makes everyone sneeze! Everyone in my family sneezes in the sun!
Yep, I definitely see the words, and I wonder if that helps with my spelling.
I told another commenter earlier that I kind of see people's names in my head once I've seen their name in print. As long as I've seen the name, I remember it really well, but if I only hear the name, I cannot remember it well at all!
Got it big time! 🙂
I see months going right to left, while the week goes left to right. Hours in the day go from low (on the floor) to high (over my head). I've never talked about it, but I often draw it out on a whiteboard for clients to discuss hunger/food/timing. And I LOVE infographics! I wonder if that is part of it...
I don't have synesthesia, although I sometimes associate certain numbers with genders or morality.
Sneezing in response to light is super interesting! My husband sneezes when he's cold. He thought this was completely normal for the longest time.
Oh, how fascinating to find out what this is called! I have always had a mental picture of the months of the year that is very similar to yours, but mine goes clockwise and starts with January in the lower right. The summer months are extra long (like the days in summer!) and have an associated bright color. Fall and winter months are shorter and darker.
I also picture dates as a line that overlays a world map from east to west. More recent dates (after about 1600) are over the US, while earlier dates are over Europe/Africa/Asia. Does anyone else visualize something like this?
There's a name for this? I thought that's how brains worked!
I totally did too. Until I found out that a lot of people don't have mental pictures!
I have this as well! It's not often I hear of others who do. My months are in a racetrack as well, but the summer (my favorite time of the year) takes up a disproportionate amount of space. I have it for days of the week as well. My husband looks at me like I'm crazy when I try to explain it to him.
The other day, my 4 year old son commented to me the circles always have to be red. He must be following in my footsteps!
There is a form of synesthesia where people taste words when they are spoken. This fascinates me.
Oh my goodness, this is me! My years and months look exactly like yours. I've always wondered how other people see this or if it was just my way of keeping track. Now I need to ask my husband how he sees these things! How did you learn about this, or what made you look into it?
I once had a coworker that had something similar although hers was when she would talk she would taste. So she says rainbow and she then tastes oranges. Some words taste bad others good. Constant flavors!
This post is why I love tuning into your blog -- I learn something new and your posts often stimulate me to think in new ways...like Sequence Synethesia (which I may be spelling wrong). I do not do this in my mind -- I think in words and movies, but I am learning to think as you described -- I just didn't know it had a name. Three years ago I headed back to school for a graduate degree in financial sciences. For most of the calculations I do, I usually end up writing out a timeline or drawing a diagram of dates, times and exchanges. It is essential to accurately completing time value of money calculations as well as planning for education and retirement funds. The more I create timelines and diagrams, the more accurate my math has become.
So for those out there who love this idea but don't do it naturally -- I think it can be a learned trait -- though as someone who cannot do this in my head, I have learned to write it down. My world is full of yellow notepads with circles and arrows and timelines. My math and thinking is much better for it.
Hmmm will have a go. Apparently I'm a visual person - and I've tried to explain to the Hubby that I find it easy to teach my daughter (in particular) as I think I know how she thinks! It's like when I look into her eyes I can see the processing that is going on!
I see my week in an almost 3-d line going away from me. When I was little and looking at numbers, they would be different colors or more pronounced. My Kindergarten teacher thought I was just being a pain. Well, that's gone now ;o)
I'm confused now. I took the mini-test -- it says I don't have it, and I have to say I've never visualized dates like Kristen, associated colors or tastes with words, any of that stuff. But, as a kid, I was always a dynamite speller (please ignore any typos in this -- I'm not going to claim I'm correct at spelling every time now!) because the words ran on a ticker tape across the front of my brain, and I just read the letters off. In fact, I still do this sometimes. So, am I, or am I not? I know I'm definitely a visual learner, so maybe that's all that is. Hmmmmm.
Both of my kids sneeze in the sun -- my husband and I don't. My husband and one of the kids are dyslexic, and this kid is semi-ambidextrous (can eat with either hand, which can be part of dyslexia, we're told.). Any connections to anything else there? I don't see it, but....
Wow, how fascinating! I do not experience any synesthia so while I logically get that people can operate this way, it seems so foreign.
I see weeks and months somewhat like this, but what I really see in my mind are blueprints of places that I go into. For example, my coworkers and I went to look at a new office building where we were being moved and afterwards I was able to draw up the blueprints/layout of the rooms/building for one of my coworkers. She said that she couldn't do anything like that, and that is when I realized that not everyone must think like me--with blueprints at least!
I didn't know there was a name for this either. I always assumed it wasn't how other people's brains worked so I never mentioned it to any one. I treasured it as my own special thing. I have circles and spirals and odd 3 dimensional shapes as well. My point of view moves depending on when in the year it is for the months, July and August take up more space than most of the other months. Numbers have personalities as well. Ages have a different shape from ordinary numbers. It makes numbers and dates interesting, which is good because I work with them all day at work. Thank you for sharing this.
My numbers all had personalities and relationships with each other! I thought it was normal growing up. My two daughters have the same thing, but they have different personalities. It's good to know I wasn't just making things up!
I have this. I also have another kind of synesthesia where I visualize all numbers, letters, and musical notes in my head in colour. Each letter of the alphabet etc. has it's own colour. When I think of someone's name, for example, a colour palette is associated with them.
My annual calendar is a loop/circle like yours, too... except yours is backwards! Mine runs clockwise. And it's grouped more seasonally, like a school calendar, where August and September have more weight than January as a beginning/end.
I didn't realize this was part of synesthesia - I thought it only meant colors/smells for numbers and words. I've always visualized numbers in a way. I remember having an argument with a friend in high school about which gender each number belonged to. That was a bit extreme, but I've always associated "feelings" with certain numbers, which makes them much easier to remember and deal with!
I have always totally felt like numbers had genders! LOL
This is what I've got! My week is elliptical and my Saturday and Sunday take up more space - so Monday to Friday take-up just over half, with the remainder taken-up just by Saturday and Sunday. I move through this elliptical shape as each new day starts. Today is Thursday, so in my mind, I'm located at Thursday's point of my elliptical shape. I also have different spatial formats for months of the years, dates and numbers. So for Thursday, 9 April 2015, I occupy 4 different spaces (day, date, month + year). When I think about a past date, I see the date in the spatial places it occupies based on my spatial formats - looking backwards from the current date. I'm so glad I'm not mad - I've never met anyone else who has this!
I know you posted this last year (in 2014, which is incidentally to my immediate right), but I just now came across it. My years and decades are organized spatially. I used to think everyone thought this way, then I just started thinking I was weird. I never told anybody else I thought of them this way. I just found out this is actually a thing.
For me, my years are a bit like a ladder, with the newest one at the top. So 2014 is just below/behind me!
I was watching a TV show and one of the characters had synesthesia. My niece, who is an artist, has the type of synesthesia in which letters and numbers are in specific colors, so for the heck of it, I went online to read about it. While I was reading, I found a description for what I now know is called Spatial Sequence Synesthesia. It described perfectly how I see the hours of the day, days, months, weeks and even centuries in a visual pattern. The months of the year appear elliptical, with the summer months being almost flat. The days of the week are linear, with the weekends differently shaped. Centuries are linear, with earlier centuries at the top and current time at the bottom. I never really gave it a thought as being unusual or having a name until I read the first online piece and then read a few more.
I also thought everyone pictured time like this! I was just asking my partner where April was in his brain calendar and he got very confused. I only found out that this was part of synathesia when searching elliptical brain calendar in google! I am glad other people picture time in their minds like this even if my partner now may think I am crazy.
I do this too! very similar to you. It's almost IMPOSSIBLE to describe to someone. even if you draw a picture, it doesn't capture the three-dimensional nature of days, numbers, months, days of the week, or whatever. A three-dimensional image that you 'move' in your head depending on what you're focusing on. So glad to find someone who does what I've always done. can't help it. it just 'is'.
Yep, and to someone who doesn't think this way, it all sounds completely foreign and odd! It's always fun to talk synesthesia to another person who has it because then you both "get" each other.
Hi, I have spatial and colour! My spatial means that when I 'look' at the days of the week they are backwards and in colour. For example:
Sunday saturday friday thursday wednesday tuesday monday And:
Green. orange red grey light green yellow grey/blue.
And they are always in boxes! my brother is exactly the same, only the colour changes! good to see others are the same too,
This is really interesting and seems like fun. I do not have such thing.
I am very visual though, but only in my handwriting. Anything I write, I remember in terms of how different the letters are in comparison to the perfect letter e.g. slightly longer loop of an "L" etc. So when I have written something down, I can exactly tell on which page and where I have written it on that page. This was really useful at university (despite having to write everything by hand like summaries of book chapters etc.), but in everyday life it is not of any use.
I had no idea that this was a real thing! I just thought I was odd. My husband would poke fun at me during pregnancy, because I would count the months out loud and move my finger around like a racetrack. My racetrack is very similar to yours...my winter months are stretched out soooo long, while my summer months are jammed together!
I thought everyone did this too. I see the months as a racetrack, but mine encompasses two years. The year I'm in on the bottom with the months moving left to right and the previous year connecting backwards from January to make the upper half. I can then think ahead to the next year that would start on the right and loop back over to the left above the year I'm on. I tend to divide history in even numbered chucks too, so it works on my two year grid.
I also have a really strong visual representation of numbers in space. I am good at playing with numbers in my head because I see them. I tried to teach my oldest daughter some tricks I use for mental math, but she doesn't have a visual representation and hasn't fully developed this skill.
Now I want to find someone in real life who does the same thing so I can compare our mental pictures.
It's so much fun to compare your mental pictures with other people's!
My synesthesia is very similar to yours. It's frustrating because I can't find anyone outside of random people on the Internet that want to talk about it. Sometimes I get in these kicks where I'm really excited to talk about the time that I am "seeing," but it makes others annoyed. They think I am making it up, or that I'm mentally insane. My family members think I daydream too much. I'm a history major, and I'm always very busy with work and school and other things that are planned out in a specific schedule, so I am just constantly seeing time all day every day. I can't help it. It's frustrating that nobody understands what is happening inside my head!
It IS a really hard thing to explain to people who don't have it. They're usually like, "Say what??" Ha.
Mine are circular waves, up n the winter, swooping down at their lowest in the summer, building up again in the fall, reaching their height in December. Each year has a new wave, joined to the last. So a series of endless waves.
So fun to hear about different people's visuals!
I was just explaining this to my son today when I came across your post (trying to describe it). I too thought everyone thought like this as my brother and I both have it and would draw pictures of what we see. I see the year very similar to your year and even have the line at the end of December before January starts!! Crazy!!
I don't know if I have spatial sequence synesthesia. I have always visualized numbers in my head within a certain way(each number is spaced out in a certain way, going in a straight line. It is a similar thing with the days of the week too, only it looks kind if hard to explain, due to it being in a line, but meeting up to make a circle at the same time).
I personally have grapheme synesthesia, but I am not sure if I have spatial sequence synesthesia. Do I have spatial sequence synesthesia? Or is that just normal?
Yeah, that sounds like spatial sequence synesthesia to me!
Oh yes I have this exact thing. I had no idea that not everyone did until I was in college. My dad also has it, but not my mom or brother. It's super helpful for remembering dates and learning history! Your pictures are wrong though. 😉
For the longest time, I too thought everyone "saw" things this way in their brains!
I found I had SSS when I was a sophomore at Clemson in the 60's. Had never thought I was any different from anyone else with regard to this. I was always an athlete. Consequently, I had all the major league baseball teams teams arranged. Of course, my week is in a circle and the months arranged from to bottom.
The difficult part is trying to explain this to others. I get strange looks.
Chuck
Sure do! See months in a ribbon form since I learned them. Number line is also an upward wave.
Mine looks much the same as yours. Months are counterclockwise and start in the same spot. Mine is just more of a messed up circle. Hours of the day go straight up. My alphabet is left to right but goes in the direction of one o'clock. My years are different though. The past is in front of me going back in the direction of 10 o'clock and the future is behind me going towards 4 o'clock. I'm in the center of 'the clock'. I see the bigger picture of time as an infinity symbol.
I don't know if I have Synesthesia or not. I see days of the week in a ?row? line? blocks? it seems that I see activities of life happening --like maybe a video--for days of week. I see at least part of the days' names --Monday, etc.--but not sure if I see all 7 days named. the whole thing may be in blocks representing days with a week's worth of blocks.
Yep, yep, that sounds like spatial synesthsia to me!
Do I???? All my life I’ve had this ability and it is a steady part of my thinking. Looking at your diagrams makes me feel silly-giddy that others think sort of like me!!! I’ve always said if I had bendable tubing I may be able to show how my day looks, time looks, lifetime, centuries, money, hours in a day, days of the week, months...and on and on! I am visual-spatial. Thanks for sharing!
Welcome to the club! It's quite a revelation when you figure it out. 🙂
YES!! I, too, thought everyone saw numbers, days of the week, months, years as fixed patterns in space. I had no idea that not everyone is like this, and had no idea this existed until a week ago. I’ve been like this my entire life. And, btw, the patterns have never changed.
I am so excited to know there are others in the world that share this with me. Since I was a child I have pictured by days of the week in a pattern or design that apparently only makes sense to me. Its kind of a semi-circle with a straight line at one end, the straight line being Saturday and Sunday, the semi circle (more oval) being Monday through Friday. I also assign genders to my letters, numbers, months and colors.
Yes! It's such an automatic thing if your brain functions this way; I just thought that everyone in the world had images like this in their brain.
It's so fascinating to get a peek into how others thing, isn't it?
Omg yes I have this I never knew there was a name. I have so many drawings of how I see time and days and months! I haven’t drawn years yet tho! But I see days as the bottom being AM and moving up to PM and I picture my days of the week reversed (Sun, Sat, Fri, Thu, Wed, Tue, Mon) and it’s a sliding focus based on the day I’m in. Each day is a different color too.
Isn't it fun to learn that it's actually a thing? I felt the same way when I learned about it.
I have this exact same synesthesia! I see numbers, days, months and years in three dimensional space. The orientation of items to each other has always stayed the same my whole life. Incan actually go into negative numbers and my orientation is a bit different than yours. Mine has turns and hills and right angles. The number 13 actually hides behind the number 12. I hd no idea other people had this!
Isn't it so interesting to hear about other people's visuals?? I find it fascinating.