Thursday, November 12, 2009

I would like to know your reactions and opinions about the lecture on Synesthesia.



Here is some information about the lecturer.

Patricia Lynne Duffy
is an instructor in the UN Language and Communications Programme. She has an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is an Acting Officer of the UN Society of Writers and its liaison to the UN 1% for Development Fund.
Duffy is the author of Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens: How Synesthetes Color their Worlds, which has been reviewed in both the popular press as well as in academic journals, Cerebrum and the APA Review of Books. She has taught English at New York University, the City University of New York, and the UN Language Programme and has written articles for numerous publications including New York Newsday, the San Francisco Chronicle (All the Colors of the Rainbow), theBoston Globe, and the Village Voice. Ms. Duffy wrote two award-winning essays, Taipei Tales and Dining in French for the literary journal Literal Latte. Her work is included in the anthologies They Only Laughed Later: Tales of Women on the Move (Europublic Press) and Soulful Living (HCI). She has traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia and lived and worked in China for a year and a half.
Her special interest is in what she terms "personal coding", the unique way in which each person codes information and makes a one-of-a-kind "inner map" of the world around them. She has been interviewed about her research and hersynesthesia by a number of publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Discover Magazine, and Newsweek, as well as on tv and radio programs such as National Public Radio, the BBC, Public Radio International and the Discovery Channel.Duffy has given presentations on synesthesia at Yale University, Princeton University, the University of California, San Diego, Rockefeller University, the University of Virginia, and others. She is a co-founder of and consultant to the American Synesthesia Association.

4 comments:

Eddorz said...

The lecture was very interesting. It was particularly interesting when Mrs. Duffy mentioned that each letter in the alphabet represents a different color and texture to her. I thought that a person that had synesthesia only saw colors from words or sounds, and not individual letters themselves. It was definitely very interesting and informational.

Unknown said...

i thought it was pretty interesting too. when she said researchers are now estimating that 1 in 200 could be synesthetes i wonder how subtle it could be to the point where the person doesn't even realize that they have it.

Olga said...

Thank you, Eddy and Tim for responding. My Sophomore students were more emotional about this lecture. Some of them were jealous of this ability. One admitted that he has synesthesia—he sees numbers in colors, but he was not comfortable to reveal it publicly, which is very typical.

Tim, this is a very good question. That is the very point that Pat wanted to make—for a long time Synesthesia was considered a disability and there was no serious research on it, synesthetes were "in the closets", being afraid to reveal it and suppressed it, not allowing it to be developed. Nowadays, it is considered a special extra-sensory ability, that opens a lot of possibilities to a humankind, including an open door into the notion of a personal perception, artistic perception of the world, it is especially fruitful for the interdisciplary activities, such as film, motion graphics, linguistics, theater...

A few years ago, at SVA Amphitheater, there was a symposium on Synesthesia. They created a special test to diagnose your synesthesia and gave people an opportunity to participate in the study. It was conducted by City University of New York in Manhattan. Cordelia Sendax was a person responsible for the testing procedure (1-646-872-8346 csendax@hotmail.com) Some of the questions were:
"Do you "see" colors when you listen to musical chords, tones or environmental sounds?"

"Do you perceive these colors in the 3-D space in front of you or "in your mind's eye?"

"Have you had these unusual experiences for as long as you can remember?"

"Are the colors you "see" for specific auditory stimuli always the same?"

Right now, there an exhibitions in NY by famous synesthet, Kandinsky, in the Guggenheim Museum

Also check this site:
http://www.ascmag.com/blog/2009/11/16/subway-to-synesthesia/


Thank you for listening,
Olga

Eddorz said...

I was watching some of my recorded TV shows the other day and noticed that the TV show, Heroes actually has a person in it that has synesthesia. Good timing for it since we are learning about it as well. Just in case anyone is wondering... its at 8 or 9 pm on NBC on Monday nights.