While most humans understand and experience the five basic senses, Maddie Ziegler's boyfriend, Eddie Benjamin, has a neurological condition known as synesthesia. According to Live Science, approximately 2 to 4 percent of the general population naturally experiences this neurological phenomenon that causes the brain to process data by blending two or more senses together. For example, synesthetes may hear colors, feel sounds, and taste shapes.
Discussing his synesthesia with Sia for Interview Magazine, Benjamin shared that he had first read about it as a teenager. "I was like, 'Oh s**t, that's kind of how I see things,'" he told the pop star. "I see colored numbers with pitch. I relate colors to certain pitches and notes. The 12 notes that we have in the musical Western world, I see certain colors to them, and it's fun and also quite tiring."
The same Live Science article explains that color-grapheme synesthesia, which is what Benjamin has, is caused by an increased number of connections between sensory regions of the brain. As a result, it's unsurprising that synesthesia is purported to be seven times more common in artists, poets, and novelists than in the rest of the general population, according to National Geographic.
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