Canadian researchers are reporting only the second-known case of a patient who developed synesthesia after a stroke — a bizarre brain phenomenon where stimulation of one sense triggers others.
Nine months after suffering a stroke in the summer of 2007, the 45-year-old Toronto man began noticing that words printed in a sky blue typeface revolted him; words written in yellow were only mildly better.
The sound of high-pitched brass instruments — specifically, the theme music from the James Bond films — elicited feelings of euphoria that the patient described as “orgasmic,” as if he could “ride the music.” The Bond music also provoked blue flashes of light in his peripheral vision, researchers from Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital report in the journal, Neurology.
