For example this is the line I see for numbers.
It is difficult to draw in two dimensions. 12-20 goes off into the distance and 20-30 curves around and up. I have seen it this way as long as I can remember.
I have never mentioned it to anyone, because I thought everyone did the same . However, a few weeks ago I was talking with my wife about the first time I came to Japan in 1993, and she asked me how long ago it was. This happens every time I talk about dates. I had always assumed it was because she was brought up on the Japanese year system and had little reference to western dates. I explained to her about the line I see when I think about numbers and dates and she looked at me as if I had fallen out of my tree. I was quite surprised to find that she has no such line and can't understand the way I see it.
Today I watched a documentary from 2004 (how many years ago?) about something called synesthesia. It is a condition where people see letters or numbers as colours or even tastes. Reseachers think it is caused by two senses overlapping and producing unusual responses.
And lo, in the documentary was a man who saw his numbers the same way I do. I had never heard of this before and I jumped onto the net and on searched around and the first image I found was this:
It was first noted by Francis Galton in a 1881 book called 'The Visions of Sane Persons.'
People who see numbers and dates this way have a crossing point between numerical and spatial thought.Some researchers also think that we all once mixed up our senses, and the different range of sensory input could have stimulated language production - an essential ingredient of language is abstract thought.
Apparently it is quite rare and probably genetic. Does anyone out there in Chiff land experience the same?
Mukade
