Thread: Synesthesia

I just got done reading a book about memory, and apparently some people with synesthesia have near perfect memories. One of the people who historically had an amazing memory was a synesthete (I think that's what they called him) who in the psychological literature went by the name of S (they're always assigned initials to preserve their identities). He was a reporter in the 20's or 30's, and every morning when their pit boss or whatever would call them all into the briefing room and bark out their assignments the rest all took furious notes - names, phone numbers, addresses, etc, but S never did. One day his boss called him into the office and asked why he doesn't take his job seriously like everybody else. He was honestly surprised and when the boss explained what he meant he said he has no trouble remembering everything and he doesn't understand why everybody else needs to take notes.

Apparently because numbers and letters are associated with colors, smells, and whatever else, that helps them to get lodged firmly in his memory - remembering something and being able to recall it later requires it being cross-referenced in several parts of the brain at once - the more cross-referencing the better - every little bit helps to pull up those memories later. And synesthesia cross-references numbers and letters in several parts of the brain- associated with colors smells, sounds, etc.

Is that true for anybody here who has it?