Ordinal linguistic personification
Encyclopedia
Ordinal-linguistic personification (OLP, or personification for short) is a form of synesthesia
in which ordered sequences, such as ordinal number
s, days
, months and letters
are associated with personalities . Although this form of synesthesia was documented as early as the 1890s researchers have, until recently, paid little attention to this form (see History of synesthesia research
).
Cakins (1893) describes a case for whom “T’s are generally crabbed, ungenerous creatures. U is a soulless sort of thing. 4 is honest, but… 3 I cannot trust… 9 is dark, a gentleman, tall and graceful, but politic under his suavity” .
For synesthete MT “I [is] a bit of a worrier at times, although easy-going; J [is] male; appearing jocular, but with strength of character; K [is] female; quiet, responsible…” .
More recently AP has reported that February is “an introverted female”, while F is a “[male] dodgy geezer”. Similarly, May is reported to be “soft-spoken” and “girly” while M is an “old lady [who] natter[s] a lot”, and while August is “a boy among girls”, A is a female “mother type” .
and share many of the characteristics that are definitional of synesthesia, such as being consistent over considerable time intervals and generating concurrents automatically . To demonstrate that personifications are automatically evoked, Simner and Holenstein used a modified Stroop
paradigm, in which a mismatch between the evoked personality and the gender leads to slower reaction times. To test this, synesthete AP was asked to report whether common names, like Brian or Betsy were male or female names. Because ‘b’ is a male letter for AP, she was faster to identify Brian as being a male name, and slower to identify Betsy as being a female name. These results demonstrate that personifications are automatically evoked, as are other forms of synesthesia. In a slightly different task, in which letters that evoke either male or female personifications are arranged into a stick figure of either a boy or a girl, reactions times are slower when the letters do not match the figure than when they do, again demonstrating the automaticity of this form of synesthesia .
involved with representing ordinal sequences, and adjacent regions involved with the identification of personality and theory of mind
near the supramarginal gyrus
. Alternatively, this form of synesthesia may arise from cross-talk in the region called the “retrosplenial cortex”.
, personified the natural numbers by assigning gender to them; the odd numbers were male and the even female . However, given the prevalence of synesthesia (1 in 23, see the main synesthesia entry), and that this is consistent among the Pythagoreans, this is unlikely to be synesthesia, but rather a form of learned association.
, Francie gives numbers personalities while learning basic math operations. She gives X and Y personalities as well.
Synesthesia
Synesthesia , from the ancient Greek , "together," and , "sensation," is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway...
in which ordered sequences, such as ordinal number
Ordinal number
In set theory, an ordinal number, or just ordinal, is the order type of a well-ordered set. They are usually identified with hereditarily transitive sets. Ordinals are an extension of the natural numbers different from integers and from cardinals...
s, days
Week-day names
The names of the days of the week from the Roman period have been both named after the seven planets of classical astronomy and numbered, beginning with Monday. In Slavic languages, a numbering system was adopted, but beginning with Monday. There was an even older tradition of names in Ancient...
, months and letters
Letter (alphabet)
A letter is a grapheme in an alphabetic system of writing, such as the Greek alphabet and its descendants. Letters compose phonemes and each phoneme represents a phone in the spoken form of the language....
are associated with personalities . Although this form of synesthesia was documented as early as the 1890s researchers have, until recently, paid little attention to this form (see History of synesthesia research
History of synesthesia research
Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which two or more bodily senses are coupled. For example, in a form of synesthesia known as grapheme-color synesthesia, letters or numbers may be perceived as inherently colored. Historically, the most commonly described form of synesthesia has been...
).
Experiences and reports
Mme L. reports that “1, 2, 3 are children without fixed personalities; they play together. 4 is a good peaceful woman, absorbed by down-to-earth occupations and who takes pleasure in them. 5 is a young man, ordinary and common in his tastes and appearance, but extravagant and self-centered. 6 is a young man of 16 or 17, very well brought up, polite, gentle, agreeable in appearance, and with upstanding tastes; average intelligence; orphan. 7 is a bad sort, although brought up well; spiritual, extravagant, gay, likeable; capable of very good actions on occasion; very generous. 8 is a very dignified lady, who acts appropriately, and who is linked with 7 and has much influence on him. She is the wife of 9. 9 is the husband of Mme. 8. He is self-centred, maniacal, selfish, thinks only about himself, is grumpy, endlessly reproaching his wife for one thing or another; telling her, for example, that he would have been better to have married a 9, since between them they would have made 18 – as opposed to only 17 with her… 10, and the other remaining numerals, have no personifications”.Cakins (1893) describes a case for whom “T’s are generally crabbed, ungenerous creatures. U is a soulless sort of thing. 4 is honest, but… 3 I cannot trust… 9 is dark, a gentleman, tall and graceful, but politic under his suavity” .
For synesthete MT “I [is] a bit of a worrier at times, although easy-going; J [is] male; appearing jocular, but with strength of character; K [is] female; quiet, responsible…” .
More recently AP has reported that February is “an introverted female”, while F is a “[male] dodgy geezer”. Similarly, May is reported to be “soft-spoken” and “girly” while M is an “old lady [who] natter[s] a lot”, and while August is “a boy among girls”, A is a female “mother type” .
Experimental studies
Personifications tend to co-occur with grapheme-color synesthesiaGrapheme-color synesthesia
Grapheme → color synesthesia is a form of synesthesia in which an individual's perception of numbers and letters is associated with the experience of colors. Like all forms of synesthesia, grapheme → color synesthesia is involuntary, consistent, and memorable...
and share many of the characteristics that are definitional of synesthesia, such as being consistent over considerable time intervals and generating concurrents automatically . To demonstrate that personifications are automatically evoked, Simner and Holenstein used a modified Stroop
Stroop effect
Purple Blue Purple----Blue Purple RedGreen Purple Green----the Stroop effect refers to the fact that naming the color of the first set of words is easier and quicker than the second....
paradigm, in which a mismatch between the evoked personality and the gender leads to slower reaction times. To test this, synesthete AP was asked to report whether common names, like Brian or Betsy were male or female names. Because ‘b’ is a male letter for AP, she was faster to identify Brian as being a male name, and slower to identify Betsy as being a female name. These results demonstrate that personifications are automatically evoked, as are other forms of synesthesia. In a slightly different task, in which letters that evoke either male or female personifications are arranged into a stick figure of either a boy or a girl, reactions times are slower when the letters do not match the figure than when they do, again demonstrating the automaticity of this form of synesthesia .
Neural basis
Very little is known about the neural basis of this form of synesthesia, but one possibility is that OLP arises from cross-talk in the region of the inferior parietal lobule between regions of the angular gyrusAngular gyrus
The angular gyrus is a region of the brain in the parietal lobe, that lies near the superior edge of the temporal lobe, and immediately posterior to the supramarginal gyrus; it is involved in a number of processes related to language, mathematics and cognition...
involved with representing ordinal sequences, and adjacent regions involved with the identification of personality and theory of mind
Theory of mind
Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one's own...
near the supramarginal gyrus
Supramarginal gyrus
The supramarginal gyrus is a portion of the parietal lobe. It is probably involved with language perception and processing, and lesions in it may cause Wernicke's aphasia or transcortical sensory aphasia.-External links:...
. Alternatively, this form of synesthesia may arise from cross-talk in the region called the “retrosplenial cortex”.
Personification among the Pythagoreans
The Pythagoreans, an ancient Greek cult of natural philosophers notable for their interest in numerologyNumerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
, personified the natural numbers by assigning gender to them; the odd numbers were male and the even female . However, given the prevalence of synesthesia (1 in 23, see the main synesthesia entry), and that this is consistent among the Pythagoreans, this is unlikely to be synesthesia, but rather a form of learned association.
Personification in Fiction
In A Tree Grows in BrooklynA Tree Grows in Brooklyn
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn may refer to:*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , a novel by Betty Smith*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , the cinema adaptation of the novel*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn , the stage adaptation of the novel...
, Francie gives numbers personalities while learning basic math operations. She gives X and Y personalities as well.