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Kyla Brown

Mrs. Stevens

Physical Science

12 December 2018

Do People Associate Different Songs with Different Colors?

When you think of color, you probably think about colored pencils or art class. Can color

be something more than that, though? Do people connect emotion with color? Even more than

that, can listening to a song make you think of a color? I thought that ​if people listen to the

beginning of four different songs and are supposed to identify different colors, then they will all

choose similar colors in the same color family.

What Is Synesthesia?

Synesthesia is a condition where your brain can (and does) process different senses at one

time. If you had synesthesia you could do things like hear a sound and simultaneously see color.

You could taste something when you see color, smell while hearing something, etc. Synesthesia

is more common in women than men (Bradford). It is “a sensation produced in one modality

when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces

the visualization of a certain color (Dictionary.com).” Synesthesia is the blending of different

senses (What).

What Role Does Age Play in Synesthesia?

Age doesn’t really play much role in synesthesia (Kenny). If you have synesthesia you

can grow out of it through time. Living your whole life with synesthesia is a possibility and is

more likely (Schultz). It is involuntary. You cannot control whether you have synesthesia or not.
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You can have synesthetic experiences but it is not possible to give yourself the condition. It can

be passed down. Some people do not even realize that they themselves have synesthesia

(Phillips).

What Research Has Been Done on Synesthesia?

Not that much research has been done on synesthesia. It was thought to be a weird thing,

so most people just left the subject alone. Recently, however, people have started researching the

topic a lot more (Kenny). Research on the subject really started in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

You can even study synesthesia at some schools (Macquarie). The amount of research on

synesthesia has really increased (Research).

Can Synesthesia be Enhanced?

To a degree, yes, synesthesia can be enhanced. A better way to put it is that you can be

more attuned to it (Kenny). Synesthesia is usually recognized earlier on in someone’s life. Adults

can train so that they can have synesthetic experiences. Children can also train so they can have

synesthetic experiences. Longer training sessions have been statistically proven to have better

results than shorter sessions. You can have synesthetic experiences but you cannot really

enhance it (Bor).

Why Do Some People Have Synesthesia but Some People Don’t?

There are different variations of synesthesia. Synesthesia is genetic, so it can be passed

down (Kenny). It is a condition and not everyone has every single condition known to mankind.

About four percent of the population naturally have synesthesia. People can experience

synesthesia but not have the condition (Brown). Some people even have synesthesia but don’t

know they have it (Daley).

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Do People Connect Emotion with Color?

People really do connect emotion with color. It is huge in marketing (Kenny). Colors give

us feelings. Warm colors make us feel happiness. Cool colors can make us calm and soothed or

sad (Gremillion). Every color makes you feel a certain way. Specifically, red can make us feel

hungry, yellow happiness, green natural, blue calm, and purple royal and luxurious (Cao). You

can make people feel different emotions by using color, which is why it is huge in marketing

(Using).

I thought that ​if people listen to the beginning of four different songs and are supposed to

identify different colors,​ t​hen they will all choose similar colors in the same color family, ​and I

found out that I was right. When I conducted my experiment, most of the people chose colors in

the same color family. If the colors weren’t in the same color family, everyone would choose all

neon colors or all dark colors. People connected the different songs with colors. In this

experiment I found out that music and emotion can play a part in the way our brain thinks of

color.
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Works Cited

Bor, Daniel, et al. “Adults Can Be Trained to Acquire Synesthetic Experiences.” Nature News,

Nature Publishing Group, 18 Nov. 2014, ​www.nature.com/articles/srep07089

Bradford, Alina. “What Is Synesthesia?” LiveScience, Purch, 18 Oct. 2017,

www.livescience.com/60707-what-is-synesthesia.html​.

Brown, David Jay. “How Common Is Synesthesia?” Stone Mountain-Lithonia, GA Patch, Patch,

12 Mar. 2013, ​http://patch.com/california/santacruz/how-common-is-synesthesia

Cao, Jerry. “12 Colours and the Emotions They Evoke.” Creative Bloq, Creative Bloq ART

AND DESIGN INSPIRATION, 27 Sept. 2018,

www.creativebloq.com/web-design/12-colours-and-emotions-they-evoke-61515112​.

Daley, Jason. “Unraveling the Genetics Behind Why Some People ‘See’ Sound and ‘Hear’

Color.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 12 Mar. 2018,

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-begin-unravel-how-some-people-see-

sound-and-hear-color-180968374/

Gremillion, Allison S. “How Color Impacts Emotions and Behaviors.” 99designs, 99designs, 28

Aug. 2018, ​https://99designs.com/blog/tips/how-color-impacts-emotions-and-behaviors/

Kenny, Jenny. 5 Nov. 2018.

“Macquarie University Faculty of Human Sciences.” Synaesthesia Research > Macquarie Centre

for Cognitive Science > Macquarie University, DVC Development and External

Relations, ​www.cogsci.mq.edu.au/research/projects/synaesthesia/​.

Phillips, Melissa Lee. “Synesthesia.” Neuroscience For Kids - Brain vs. Computer,

https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html
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Schultz, Colin. “Some Kids Outgrow Their Synesthesia.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian

Institution, 19 Nov. 2013,

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/some-kids-outgrow-their-synesthesia-180947778/​.

“Synesthesia.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, ​www.dictionary.com/browse/synesthesia​.

“Synesthesia Research, Science and How Synesthetic Brains Are Wired.” Synesthesia

Meditation,

https://synesthesia.com/blog/synesthesia/science-of-synesthesia/synesthesia-research-and

-science/

“Using Color in Design to Evoke Powerful Emotions.” Image, 27 Feb. 2013,

www.cc-sd.edu/blog/using-color-in-design-to-evoke-powerful-emotions

“What Is Synesthesia?” Scientific American,

www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-synesthesia/​.