3 ms·

Richard Feynman had grapheme-color synesthesia, so he effectively saw all math with "syntax highlighting": http://sdl.granthazard.com/exhibits/show/famous-syne

Richard Feynman had grapheme-color synesthesia, so he effectively saw all math with "syntax highlighting": http://sdl.granthazard.com/exhibits/show/famous-synesthetes/famous-synesthetes-closer-look/richard-feynman http://sdl.granthazard.com/exhibits/show/famous-synesthetes/... I have some proposed a system with examples here: https://nbeaver.github.io/equation-manager-description/ https://nbeaver.github.io/equation-manager-description/

jrapdx3 10y ago
Thanks for the links, I didn't previously know that Feynman was a synesthete. Grapheme synesthesia is the most frequent type of synesthesia. I'm also a grapheme synesthete which is no doubt the only talent I'd have in common with Feynman. What makes this form of synesthesia a feature and not a bug is illustrated by research showing grapheme synesthetes probably have above average visual learning ability. I can say that the sensory phenomena do tend to dim with age, but for me it was quite vivid as a kid, numbers, letters and words were strongly "colored" automatically. That did help memorizing things that schoolwork required, but in my case not tremendously helpful for solving math problems. I looked at the PDF. Feynman's description is rather like my experience, though I'd emphasize that individual numbers and letters had unique, stable "colorization". IOW it's not that all numerals were blue, but that 0 was cyan, 1 was black, 2 yellow, etc. Likewise A or a was red, B appeared green, b looked yellow-green, and so on. Combinations of letters in words would take on a meaning communicated as particular blocks of colors, that is, certain key words or phrases were readily identified. Kind of weird to write it out like that but I believe it did make it easier to get through the rote parts of schooling. When I got bored sometimes I'd toss things around in my head, colors flying everywhere. The teacher could never guess what I was thinking... Each synesthete has an individual sensory pattern, and syntax highlighting schemes are probably quite a bit different from synesthetic perception. Nonetheless what you show is very likely a good idea. I sure appreciate using syntax highlighting for code editing, suggesting there are good reasons to think it's worth applying elsewhere.

jrapdx3 10y ago

Thanks for the links, I didn't previously know that Feynman was a synesthete. Grapheme synesthesia is the most frequent type of synesthesia. I'm also a grapheme synesthete which is no doubt the only talent I'd have in common with Feynman. What makes this form of synesthesia a feature and not a bug is illustrated by research showing grapheme synesthetes probably have above average visual learning ability. I can say that the sensory phenomena do tend to dim with age, but for me it was quite vivid as a kid, numbers, letters and words were strongly "colored" automatically. That did help memorizing things that schoolwork required, but in my case not tremendously helpful for solving math problems. I looked at the PDF. Feynman's description is rather like my experience, though I'd emphasize that individual numbers and letters had unique, stable "colorization". IOW it's not that all numerals were blue, but that 0 was cyan, 1 was black, 2 yellow, etc. Likewise A or a was red, B appeared green, b looked yellow-green, and so on. Combinations of letters in words would take on a meaning communicated as particular blocks of colors, that is, certain key words or phrases were readily identified. Kind of weird to write it out like that but I believe it did make it easier to get through the rote parts of schooling. When I got bored sometimes I'd toss things around in my head, colors flying everywhere. The teacher could never guess what I was thinking... Each synesthete has an individual sensory pattern, and syntax highlighting schemes are probably quite a bit different from synesthetic perception. Nonetheless what you show is very likely a good idea. I sure appreciate using syntax highlighting for code editing, suggesting there are good reasons to think it's worth applying elsewhere.