Synesthesia: The Colors You Exude, a Fiction Writing Prompt
A 200 character short story based on real science.
I am like a psychedelic mantis shrimp with 12 kinds of photoreceptors. Quicker than the 3 most humans have. Can’t always tell the difference between similar colors but I recognize the color of danger or food. I hear the colors you exude.
Science: “While the researchers aren’t sure exactly what the Mantis shrimp are doing instead, it’s possible that their visual system functions somewhat like a satellite sensor. The eyes of a mantis shrimp move independently — like chameleons’ eyes — and are perched atop stalks on their heads. To see, the shrimp move their eyes across whatever they are looking at, scanning it sequentially with their visual cells. The pattern created by this scan may allow shrimp to recognize color without a lengthy comparison process, cutting down on the time and the neural processing required by other systems. It’s a process that could improve our own technology: think quicker CDs and DVDs or super-efficient bioinspired satellites.” One of the strangest animals on earth gets a little weirder, Despite having 12 photoreceptors, mantis shrimp aren’t great at sensing color. by Kate Shaw Yoshida
