COLORS ARE ALL IN YOUR MIND NOW
Colors can play tricks on the mind. And the mind can play tricks on colors! Check out the fascinating new things happening right now in the world of synaesthesia and color-responsive wearables.
SYNESTHESIA
You can learn to hear color!
A new study, conducted by a team at the University of Sussex, Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science has shown for the first time that people can be trained to “see” letters of the alphabet as colors, proving that certain levels of synesthesia can be learned.
The study, reported in Scientific Reports, also found that the training might potentially boost IQ.
Synaesthesia is a fascinating neurological phenomenon that occurs in about 4% of the population in which senses are cross-experienced. Some synesthetes can, for example, “see” letters or sounds as specific colors, or “taste” words.
Melissa McCracken sees sound. She experiences sound as color. "Basically, my brain is cross-wired. I experience the ‘wrong’ sensation to certain stimuli, she explains.
“... the most wonderful ‘brain malfunction’ of all is seeing the music I hear. It flows in a mixture of hues, textures, and movements, shifting as if it were a vital and intentional element of each song."
McCracken paints music. The paintings above are her recordings of what she sees when she listens to music by John Lennon, David Bowie and Led Zeppelin.
A debate remains about whether the condition is embedded in our genes, or whether it is triggered by environmental influences. It can, in fact, be both, together.
One of the most surprising outcomes of the study: subjects who trained in synaesthesia exhibited a IQ jump by an average of 12 points, compared to a control untrained group.
THE UNSEEN -- COLOR YOU CAN CHANGE WITH YOUR MIND
You can change the color of your clothing with your mind! Color can change with the wind!
Lauren Bowker created jacket, called Eighth Sense, that changes color based on your mood and a sculptural feathered cape, made of black leather, impregnated with atmospherically sensitive chemicals that change colour with shifts in conditions.
The jacket, from “The Unseen,” collection has a magnificent reptilian feel, with carefully sculpted scales, the appear iridescent. The fabric is colored with a special ink that changes hue in reaction to changes in electromagnetic energy.
You must wear the special Swarovski-encrusted electroencephalography headpiece, which reads your brain activity and sends impulses to the jacket, stimulating it to change color according to the energy transmitted. Red, for example, gets triggered by anger and anxiety, while blue is triggered by calm.
Read more about Many Colors all this week on BeautifulNow, including Anime Colored Italian Cities. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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IMAGE CREDITS:
- Image: by Melissa McCracken. Since I've been loving you - Led Zeppelin.
- Image: by binaryCoco. Band Session in the Dark 2.
- Image: by Melissa McCracken. Little Wing.
- Image: by Melissa McCracken. Joy in Repetition.
- Image: by Melissa McCracken. Karma Police.
- Image: by Melissa McCracken.
- Image: Courtesy of Lauren Bowker. The Angel Wings. The Unseen Collection. Sculptural Feathered Cape in Black Leather, Impregnated with Atmospherically Sensitive Chemicals That Change Colour With Shifts in Conditions.
- Image: Courtesy of Lauren Bowker. E I G H T H S E N S E. The Unseen Collection.
- Image: Courtesy of The Unseen. T H E U N S E E N S W A R O V S K I.
- Image: by Carlos Andrés Reyes. Iris eclipse - Explored.
- Image: by Melissa McCracken. Life on Mars? by David Bowie.
- Image: by Melissa McCracken. Seems So Long.
