This type of reaction will occur for people who possess a rare condition called synesthesia. Synesthesia is the phenomenon in which the stimulation of one of the senses triggers a different sense. But synesthesia is normal. All of us are synesthetic, however in most of us, this holistic way of perceiving the world never comes to conscious awareness. Cytowic writes that synesthesia evolved nearly 300 years ago, but psychologists and neurologists did not acknowledge it because it was relatively unstudied.
Synesthesia is an emotional and a neurological condition.
It appears to be a malfunction in the brain that originates in the left-hemisphere. It relies heavily on the function of the hippocampus, which is a ridge along the lower section of each lateral ventricle of the brain. Cytowic writes that the disorder affects one in 25,000 individuals and synesthetes are more likely to be left handed and learning disabled. His research shows that synesthesia occurs in women more then men. Matthew Florence, a junior at the University of Rhode Island, associates colors with the alphabet and numbers.