#118 - “What Neurology Can Tell Us About Human Nature, Synesthesia and Art”

[TirikiteToker]

Podcast 118 - “What Neurology Can Tell Us About Human Nature, Synesthesia and Art” (http://www.matrixmasters.net/blogs/?p=241)

Guest speaker: Dr. V.S. Ramachandran


In this program neurologist Dr. V.S. Ramachandran talks about various ways in which brain structure can influence various forms of human behaviour, including the artistic impulse.

[TirikiteToker]

Great podcast Lorenzo. I love hearing about neuroscience. (I actually studied a bit in university as a post-grad engineer modelling auditory processes, but that was another life...)

Dr Ramachandran was on a recent TEDTalk, where he discussed a lot of the same topics as on this talk. If you're looking for a briefer version, with video, look it up. He also talks a bit about the "phantom-limb amputation" that Sue Blackmore mentioned. For those of you who don't know, TEDTalks feature interesting speakers gathered together in yearly conferences at which they each get only 20 minutes to give a presentation. There are some great ones.

The center of our minds: Vilayanur Ramachandran on TED.com (http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Er/TEDBlog/%7E3/173812001/vilayanur_ramac.php)

from TED | TEDBlog (http://www.google.com/reader/view/feed/http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Ftedblog)
Brain researcher Vilayanur Ramachandran (http://www.ted.com/speakers/view/id/164) talks about (http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/184) how brain damage can reveal the connection between the internal structures of the brain and the corresponding functions of the mind. He discusses three specific syndromes: phantom limb pain, synesthesia (when people hear color or smell sounds), and the Capgras delusion, when brain-damaged people believe their closest friends and family have been replaced with imposters. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 23:46.)

Watch Vilayanur Ramachandran's talk on TED.com (http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/184)

[Lorenzo]

Dr Ramachandran was on a recent TEDTalk, where he discussed a lot of the same topics as on this talk. If you're looking for a briefer version, with video, look it up. He also talks a bit about the "phantom-limb amputation" that Sue Blackmore mentioned. For those of you who don't know, TEDTalks feature interesting speakers gathered together in yearly conferences at which they each get only 20 minutes to give a presentation. There are some great ones.

The center of our minds: Vilayanur Ramachandran on TED.com (http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Er/TEDBlog/%7E3/173812001/vilayanur_ramac.php)

Thanks for posting that link, TirkiteToker. The TED talks are among the best around and this one by Dr. Ramachandran is excellent . . . highly recommented.

[earthmansurfer]

Hello Lorenzo,

First post, long time coming. Thanks for the great show(s). I found the talk of Synesthesia quite interesting. Towards the end of the podcast you mentioned that it was not so important for you to try to experience synesthesia for you can't see any benefits. (or something like that).

I can see where you are coming from. I have not experienced it but wonder if something might be found there. Maybe not the best analogy, but here goes:
It was probably only 10 years ago or so when I started smoking Cannabis. I had some before bed and put on a hendrix cd with headphones. I couldn't believe I had never listened to this "new" cd before. I heard every instrument and background vocal, almost like hearing 8 tracks at the same time but without really focusing on any of them. I was shocked in the morning to find that I always had that cd (are you experienced), I just never heard it high before. Or perhaps, I really never "listened" before. After a few more tries like that, I got to the point where I could hear much more in music, without Cannabis.

Ok, I know this isn't synesthesia, but I wonder if we might discover something just as "transferable" and "useful" to our everyday life. In other words if enough people have or experience it, it will find some use. We just don't know what that might be. Clearly things in the arts come to mind. Clear advantages to seeing sound, when you don't have the greatest ears for it (like me). Or perhaps we could hear/see more in ones voice that aids in our intuition. Wouldn't living lie detectors help in this day and age?

As we continue to evolve as human beings, I have a feeling we are in store for something quite profound and much more expanded than our everyday state of being/consciousness.

Take care and please keep it up!
Earthmansurfer

[Lorenzo]

Towards the end of the podcast you mentioned that it was not so important for you to try to experience synesthesia for you can't see any benefits. (or something like that).
. . . . . .
but I wonder if we might discover something just as "transferable" and "useful" to our everyday life. In other words if enough people have or experience it, it will find some use.

Good point, earthmansurfer! Upon reflection I think that, yes, I probably was too dismissive about synesthesia. In fact, my mentor even told me that it was an experience well worth having. So maybe it was just "sour grapes" on my part because I've never experienced it. ... Your are definitely right about me keeping my mind more open ... thanks for reminding me. I definitely need that from time to time. :)

[Muloka]

By the way here's an interesting lecture about taste synesthesia that was featured on Quirks and Quarks on December 2, 2006: http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/06-07/dec02.html

note: mp3 or ogg available for download.

[cadex]

I don't know how many people are aware of Aphex Twin (aka Richard D James) or his music but he has lived with synesthesia his whole life, which might have aided his intense artist talent and musical ability.

Richard revealed he was one of the tiny percentage of the population blessed/cursed with Synesthesia, the sensory disorder that short circuits sufferer’s receptors into picking up mixed messages from the 5 senses. Morsels in the mouth assume a precise geometric shape and musical notes can spark colourfloods in a field of vision, the kind of hallucinations most of us have to jack a tab to access.

So days were filled with tasty colours and tactile sounds and nights were spent dreaming lucidly, calling the shots in mental movies where, as he confessed to David Toop in The Face, he regularly defied death in an escalating series of scenarios, savouring every detail of the mise en scene. “I often throw myself off skyscrapers or cliffs and zoom off right at the last minute. That’s quite good fun. It’s well realistic.”

Does anyone know of any other succesful artists who had/have synesthesia?

[VictoriaPandora]

Yeah, Franz Lizst.
That was a great podcast Lorenzo, fascinating stuff!

[Pursewarden]

I don't know how many people are aware of Aphex Twin (aka Richard D James) or his music but he has lived with synesthesia his whole life, which might have aided his intense artist talent and musical ability.



Does anyone know of any other succesful artists who had/have synesthesia?

I watched a documentary a few years ago about Savants. The documentary focused on the 'Real Rain Man,' and they interviewed a bunch of people who had synesthesia.

And I know that Fez "Marie" Whatley from the Ron and Fez radio show also has number synethesia. He claims that most numbers have a color that he associates with them. Well, not so much that he associates with them, but they just 'are' a certain color. He spoke about it, but it must be what a blind man must feel when he hears someone talk about color.

Yeah, Franz Lizst.
That was a great podcast Lorenzo, fascinating stuff!

Franz Lizst was also the first concert pianist that turned the piano 90 degrees to the audience so that they could see his profile. He did this so the ladies could view his profile because he was that handsome. Just wanted to share that.

[VictoriaPandora]

Yeah Liszt was a real rock star. But I can't remember if he was the one that always broke strings. I had a friend like that... everytime he came near my piano he'd break a string. Of course he was capable of giving it a much better workout than I could ever have imagined. Hmm, drifting off topic again:)