The real reason so many great artists experience reality differently | Richard Cytowic

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For most people, Tuesday is just the name of a weekday. For 1 in 23 people, Tuesday is also brown, tilted to the left, and tastes metallic. Neurologist Richard Cytowic has spent decades studying synesthesia, the phenomenon where one sense involuntarily triggers another.

Cytowic makes the case that the cross-wiring synesthetes experience is present in every human brain, just quieter.

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About Richard Cytowic:

Richard E. Cytowic, M.D., MFA, is Professor of Neurology at George Washington University. He is the author of several books published by the MIT Press, including Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses, The Man Who Tasted Shapes, The Neurological Side of Neuropsychology, Synesthesia, and Your Stone Age Brain in the Screen Age. His 2025 memoir is titled The Magician’s Accomplice: My Father and I in the Age of Anxiety.

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