Can you "smell" things on TV or in movies?

[Barb D]

I can. If there's a pool, I smell chlorine. Sometimes I can smell cologne on a person, or sweat, or salt in the air... I mentioned it to my family tonight, and my 15yo says she does it too. Do we just have overactive imaginations or is this normal?

 

[redlight]

I can't, but some people can smell things that they are seeing or hearing. Other people can see sounds. It's called synthenesia.

 

[Karen in San Diego]

I can't, but my older DS can. He has the aforementioned synesthesia. He sees colors for numbers, letters, and people he loves. He also has "tastes" for the same things. And he can taste and smell things when he's watching movies. I used to freak a little bit when he would tell me these things (he's a unique kid anyway) but then I read a book called "Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens" about synthsthetes, and it all started to make sense.

 

[Shelton123]

Crap, you guys beat me to it. I can do this! Whenever I look out the window, I can tell how cold it is going to me. Whenever I smell something, I am able to tell how it will taste. It's so creepy, even for me!

 

[daisax]

So how does it work when there's a smell on tv that you don't actually have experience of? Say, some mystery chemical that is obviously "bad" -- do you come up with your own smell? Does it work for cartoons? (I'm thinking Pepe le Pew!)

It's a fascinating condition, but I imagine that it could be pretty unpleasant from time to time! (Especially if you watch stuff like Dirty Jobs)

 

[lucyanna girl]

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one!

I have an App on my IPhone that looks like a Zippo lighter. When you open the top and "light" it (spin the little wheel), I always smell butane. My family laughs at me but I smell it every time.

Penny

 

[Mom2Evie]

I can. If there's a pool, I smell chlorine. Sometimes I can smell cologne on a person, or sweat, or salt in the air... I mentioned it to my family tonight, and my 15yo says she does it too. Do we just have overactive imaginations or is this normal?

Memory, emotion & scent are very closely linked. I'm not surprised that you "smell" something. The image is likely stimulating the same portion of your brain.

 

[Barb D]

I can't, but my older DS can. He has the aforementioned synesthesia. He sees colors for numbers, letters, and people he loves. He also has "tastes" for the same things. And he can taste and smell things when he's watching movies. I used to freak a little bit when he would tell me these things (he's a unique kid anyway) but then I read a book called "Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens" about synthsthetes, and it all started to make sense.

Numbers and letters absolutely have colors. I need to find that book.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

wow...I thought the OP was kidding.... guess not

So, no I can't....
The closest to anything like that was the inability to breathe right watching the underwater drama of The Abyss..

But, I know smells are one of the strongest senses....can bring back lots of memories for me with one slight whiff

 

[Kirby]

That used to happen to me as a child. I read a lot of Little Golden Books (remember those?) and the stories had tastes and smells. I don't remember when it stopped but I can still taste and smell those stories. It may still happen and I've just gotten used to it so I don't notice it any more. I read a lot. Some of those crime novels I don't think I want to taste and smell!

 

[redlight]

Memory, emotion & scent are very closely linked. I'm not surprised that you "smell" something. The image is likely stimulating the same portion of your brain.

Yeah, that's it. It's the same parts of the brain being stimulated. We hear, see, touch, feel, and smell not just with our senses, but also with our brains.

 

[chisnpeke]

I can't, but my older DS can. He has the aforementioned synesthesia. He sees colors for numbers, letters, and people he loves. He also has "tastes" for the same things. And he can taste and smell things when he's watching movies. I used to freak a little bit when he would tell me these things (he's a unique kid anyway) but then I read a book called "Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens" about synthsthetes, and it all started to make sense.

I see colors for numbers. The number 8 has always been green for me. 5 is yellow, 7 is red.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I don't see specific colors, but I do tend to think of things in tints or light and dark. Memories, people, books, and places are this way especially.

For instance, Harry Potter is very dark, like the sky at Twilight. Navy. Jodi Piccoult books tend to be a sky blue. When I think of middle school it is kind of a drab gray- not bright, not dark. My first college has a brightish yellow tint, like the gel they use when they make Westerns.

It's really funny when I see movies based on books. I've made comments before that the cinematography was not as light or dark as I imagined it. (I'm not talking about the plot, but the actual brightness and the gels they use). I stopped saying that because my friends looked at me like I had three heads.

 

[Pooh Crew]

Yes! I thought I was just a weirdo! (That might still be true )

I can see people on tv or even IRL from a distance and just "know" what they smell like. My mom said she can't do it, so I never asked anyone else--didn't want to risk them thinking I'm crazy. You are not alone.

 

[GeorgeG]

Everything seems to smell like popcorn...

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

When I was young I used to have a game that you would scratch the card and sniff it to come up with the smell. One particularly pungent odor was the pickle.

I had not smelled a pickle exactly like the one in the picture until last night when a guy on the bleachers in front of me sat down with one big fat pickle and started munching on it.

 

[NotUrsula]

I don't have synesthesia, but I can imagine smells quite clearly, or sometimes be absolutely sure that I am smelling a particular thing, when no one else around me is. My neurologist calls them olfactory hallucinations. He believes that the situation is related to my migraines. My sense of smell is also REALLY acute in the real world; I pick up odors long before other people do.

As I understand it, synesthesia is more of a static thing that has a regular pattern of sameness, that for instance the number 9 might always smell like lemons or appear to be purple.

As for "tasting" smells; that's normal. Most of your sense of taste is really part of your sense of smell. I use this one to my advantage to try to get my children to try new foods -- I tell them that if it smells good to them, it will probably also taste good to them.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I did a project in college for one of my psych classes on synesthesia. I think it's fascinating. Anyone who's interested should also check out The Man Who Tasted Shapes. Good book.

Something I read only recently being described as a form of synethesia is seeing (mentally visualizing) the months of the year in a cicle. I thought to myself, "That's stupid. Everybody should think of the months in a circle. It's the only thing that makes sense." So I told DH about this and, nope, he doesn't see it that way. Neither has anyone else I've talked to so far. The more I got into it, the more I realized how weirdly specific this visualization of mine is. Yes, the months are in a circle...as are the days of the week. January and Sunday are in the 11 o'clock position and the months/days run counter clockwise. If I really think about it I realize that the months aren't really in a circle before me (like a clock on a wall would be) but are rather on a horizontal plane...like a plate.

So, does anyone else do this?

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

I don't see specific colors, but I do tend to think of things in tints or light and dark. Memories, people, books, and places are this way especially.

For instance, Harry Potter is very dark, like the sky at Twilight. Navy. Jodi Piccoult books tend to be a sky blue. When I think of middle school it is kind of a drab gray- not bright, not dark. My first college has a brightish yellow tint, like the gel they use when they make Westerns.

It's really funny when I see movies based on books. I've made comments before that the cinematography was not as light or dark as I imagined it. (I'm not talking about the plot, but the actual brightness and the gels they use). I stopped saying that because my friends looked at me like I had three heads.

I’m the EXACT same way. When I think of people I think of light or dark. I think I do subconsciously now that I am older, but when I was a kid, in my head I would go through the list of kids in my class and associate them with light or dark.

 

[pleefy]

OP, if you are not joking and are actually having olafactory hallucinations, you should contact your doctor TODAY. No, it isn't normal.