Music Has a Flavor to Woman Who 'Tastes' Sounds

[craigdawg]

I wonder what she tastes when she hears Ashlee Simpson. I guess she wouldn't taste anything. :D

LONDON (Reuters) - Music can be a mouth-watering experience for one Swiss musician who "tastes" combinations of notes as distinct flavors, according to a report in the science journal Nature. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&e=15&u=/nm/science_sounds_dc

[emw]

I must not be that tuned in - all music tastes like chicken to me.

[Hemingray]

She doesn't imagine the taste, she really tastes it.

How can that be if there isn't anything physically on her tongue? The aural stimulii may connect somewhere up in the brain to her senses of taste, giving her the impression that she's tasting something, but without anything for her taste buds to actually come into contact with, I don't see how that's possible what that quote is saying.

[jsw]

How can that be if there isn't anything physically on her tongue? The aural stimulii may connect somewhere up in the brain to her senses of taste, giving her the impression that she's tasting something, but without anything for her taste buds to actually come into contact with, I don't see how that's possible what that quote is saying.
There are a number of cases where people have senses which are cross-connected to others or even to types of thought - for example, a man who "sees" numbers as geometric shapes.

The brain is quite an interesting subject.

[Blue Velvet]

The condition is known as synesthesia.

Oliver Sacks is one of many people who have written about it.

Here's (http://web.mit.edu/synesthesia/www/synesthesia.html) an overview of the subject.

[jsw]

Seems to me like she could save a fortune on seasonings and higher-quality foods simply by putting the right combination of songs on her iPod while eating. In fact, with GarageBand, she could synthesize the perfect meal and "eat" it whenever she wanted. ;)

[Wyvernspirit]

Seems to me like she could save a fortune on seasonings and higher-quality foods simply by putting the right combination of songs on her iPod while eating. In fact, with GarageBand, she could synthesize the perfect meal and "eat" it whenever she wanted. ;)

Its a new weightloss program. You should market it and make some moola on the deit craze, come to think of it I should invest and make a profit too. :D

[stoid]

The condition is known as synesthesia.

Oliver Sacks is one of many people who have written about it.

Here's (http://web.mit.edu/synesthesia/www/synesthesia.html) an overview of the subject.

Yeah I read an article on that awhile back, crazy stuff. Tasting colors, smelling sounds. Some things can be a product on repetitive reinforcement, but it's also a mental disorder, albeit not as debilitating as others. I believe it's LSD or something that can cause a similar effect in regular people. (just in case you want to try it out at home ;) )

[virividox]

i wonder what she tastes when listening to william hung or numa numa hehe

[emw]

i wonder what she tastes when listening to william hung or numa numa heheHits. Or some variation of that.

But that does bring up an interesting question, for me at least. Can she taste things through music that she's never tasted for real? The article alluded to general types of tastes (sweet, salty, etc.) - is this all she tastes, or is it like we've joked, that a particular sound could taste like, say, steak?

[Blue Velvet]

...or is it like we've joked, that a particular sound could taste like, say, steak?

Only if she listens to moo-sic...

:D

[minimax]

Wassily Kandinsky, accredited as the first abstract painter, also had this condition.

[jsw]

Only if she listens to moo-sic...

:D
I think it would beef unny if Simon Cow-ell had this condition. That might explain some of his expressions during American Idol. No steak yet, apparently.

[wdlove]

This is very interesting, think that I have heard of this condition before. I imagine that like anything else it has its positives as well as negatives. Just hope that all the tastes are good one's.

[ThomasJefferson]

When I hear Frank Sinatra, I always taste my moms lasagna.

But, I guess its not the same thing ...

[Chappers]

Of course for some people this is a serious disability whilst for others its something they wouldn't be without.

What a strange organ the brain is.