Oct 8, 2026 · @LC
Synesthesia Lexicon
This lexicon defines the perceptual terms I use when I talk about my art and my books. Each entry has a short version and a longer one, and the longer one names the research it draws on.
Synesthesia is a difference in how perception is wired and is not considered a disorder. Nothing on this page is meant to tell anyone what they have.
Core terms
Synesthesia
One sense or kind of thought automatically sets off a second experience, such as a sound that also arrives as a color.
Inducer
The thing that sets the synesthetic experience off.
Concurrent
The added experience that arrives with the inducer.
Consistency
The same trigger produces the same experience every time, across months and years.
Projector and associator
Projectors perceive the concurrent out in the world. Associators perceive it in the mind's eye.
Types
Chromatic synesthesia
Synesthesia where the added experience is color.
Chromesthesia
Sounds or music arrive with color.
Grapheme color synesthesia
Letters and numbers each have their own color.
Lexical gustatory synesthesia
Words, spoken aloud or only thought, bring tastes into the mouth.
Synesthesia alongside autism and ADHD
Synesthesia and autism
Synesthesia shows up in autistic people about five times more often than in everyone else, and the two share a heightened sensory world.
Synesthesia and ADHD
Less is known here, and the research that exists is early.
Sources
Synesthesia research is a small field, so some foundational studies here are older than five years. I've linked to the most accessible versions I could find.