What color is it today? What shape is that smell? What does that pain sound like? These questions might seem like nonsense, but four people in 100 might think they make perfect sense.

Mix-and-match senses

That four percent have synesthesia, and they naturally experience certain senses together. One form of this is pairing numbers or letters with a fixed color – a blue “1” or a red “D.” Other synesthetes, people with synesthesia, may think the word “storm” tastes salty. Yet others with “mirror-touch synesthesia” see someone slapped on the cheek and also feel the slap themselves. 

We’re all wired differently

Synesthesia is not completely understood though it is in our genes. The white matter of synesthetes is organized differently from that of people without synesthesia, which may account for the differences in perception. However, some scientists think that all people may have been born with synesthesia only to lose it early on. Research, however, shows that colored refrigerator magnets may have trained synesthetes to match colors and letters at a young age.