Synesthesia Assessment Test

In three minutes, the Synesthesia Assessment Test uses 15 questions to explore how sensory impressions may connect across taste, smell, movement, sound, and vision. Your result highlights patterns of associative perception, offering a concise starting point for self-reflection about imagination and sensory experience.

Questions: 153 minutes

Synesthesia Assessment Test: sample question card

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

GustatoryG

Measures how strongly taste sensations arise as associations to non-taste stimuli in cross-modal perception.

example score2/3

2/3Highexample score

0 – 1Low

2 – 3High

A score of 2 indicates a high tendency for taste-related associations to accompany other sensory inputs, suggesting richer cross-modal imagery.

OlfactoryO

Measures how strongly a person experiences smell-related associations in response to stimuli from other senses.

example score1/3

1/3Lowexample score

0 – 1Low

2Moderate

3High

A score of 1 suggests a low level of odor-based cross-modal associations, with smells arising occasionally or weakly in response to other sensory cues.

KinestheticK

Measures how strongly bodily or movement sensations are evoked when processing stimuli through other sensory channels.

example score1/3

1/3Lowexample score

0 – 1Low

2 – 3High

A score of 1 falls in the Low range, suggesting bodily or motor sensations are present but not a prominent part of your cross-modal perception.

AuditoryA

Measures how strongly a person links sounds with other sensory impressions, reflecting cross-modal auditory imagery and auditory memory tendencies.

example score2/3

2/3Moderateexample score

0 – 1Low

2Moderate

3High

A score of 2 indicates a moderate tendency to form sound-based associations with other sensations, suggesting a fairly developed auditory component of synesthesia.

VisualV

Measures the tendency to generate visual imagery in response to non-visual stimuli as part of cross-modal perception.

example score1/3

1/3Lowexample score

0 – 1Low

2 – 3High

A score of 1 suggests a low level of visually driven synesthetic imagery, with visual images arising occasionally but not as a dominant response pattern.

Synesthesia SensitivitySS

Measures how readily a person experiences cross-modal (synesthetic) perceptions, indicating how sensory information is internally represented and linked to creative expression.

example score6/15

6/15Moderateexample score

0 – 5Low

6 – 10Moderate

11 – 15High

A score of 6 suggests a moderate sensitivity to synesthesia, meaning occasional cross-sensory associations that may support imaginative or literary-style representation without being strongly pronounced.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Creative writing learners

41%OF USERS

People who write or study literature take it to see their dominant sensory style and whether cross-sensory perception supports their creative voice.

Psychology clients and seekers

34%OF USERS

Those exploring self-understanding use it to learn how they internally encode information and which sensory channel guides their everyday thinking.

Teachers and school psychologists

25%OF USERS

Educators take it to quickly profile students’ perception patterns and spot strengths that may relate to verbal or literary abilities.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

GustatoryG

You?

Average1.5

Typical rangeTypical1 – 2.1

Possible0 – 3

OsmicO

You?

Average1

Typical rangeTypical0.6 – 1.4

Possible0 – 3

KinestheticK

You?

Average2.2

Typical rangeTypical1.7 – 2.7

Possible0 – 3

AuditoryA

You?

Average1.4

Typical rangeTypical0.9 – 1.8

Possible0 – 3

VisualV

You?

Average0.9

Typical rangeTypical0.4 – 1.3

Possible0 – 3

Sensitivity to SynesthesiaStS

You?

Average4.4

Typical rangeTypical1.9 – 6.9

Possible0 – 15

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

For the word shown at the top, select one of the three words listed below. Only one word may be selected. Complete the task as quickly as possible. There are no incorrect answers.

- evening
- distant
- cold
- bitter
- thick
- gray
- unharvested
- silent
- yellow

These are 3 of the 15 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Synesthesia Assessment Test - Description and methodology of the test

representational system

People curious about unusual links between the senses can use the Synesthesia Assessment Test to consider whether sounds, words, smells, colors, tastes, or movements evoke one another. This synesthesia test suits readers seeking a structured snapshot of associative perception, not factual knowledge. The result highlights the sensory channels most prominent in the responses, giving language to personal experience.

What This Assessment Explores

These prompts test whether one kind of input evokes another modality, rather than factual knowledge. The profile shows where associations cluster. As a sensory association test, this questionnaire describes the recurring cross-modal patterns reflected in the answers. It covers:

Gustatory (0-3) reflects taste triggered by other stimuli; Low 0-1, High 2-3.
Olfactory (0-3) reflects odors triggered by other stimuli; Low 0-1, Moderate 2-2, High 3-3.
Kinesthetic (0-3) reflects bodily or movement sensations linked to stimuli; Low 0-1, High 2-3.
Auditory (0-3) reflects auditory imagery linked to other senses; Low 0-1, Moderate 2-2, High 3-3.
Visual (0-3) reflects visual imagery elicited by stimuli; Low 0-1, High 2-3.
Synesthesia Sensitivity (0-15) reflects overall synesthetic tendency; Low 0-5, Moderate 6-10, High 11-15.

Together, the profile distinguishes particular channels from broader cross-modal sensitivity.

Methodology and Scientific Basis

Methodologically, the items use compact forced choices. A cue may be a word, scene, color, smell, or sensory image, followed by descriptors; the respondent selects the option that best matches the experience. This format records associations through recognition rather than a written explanation.

The questionnaire reports component results alongside an overall Synesthesia Sensitivity result. The conversion of answer choices into points and the derivation of the overall result are not specified; displayed ranges do not establish a scoring rule. The displayed bands describe this synesthesia assessment’s profile and should not be treated as population norms or clinical thresholds.

The framework is traceable first to Lobanov's Synesthesia Method (1999), a methodological reference for cross-modal associations. The questionnaire is conceptually consistent with Cytowic's account and with Eagleman and colleagues' standardized battery from 2007, but it is not presented as an adaptation of either instrument. Carmichael and colleagues' 2015 study supports that battery's reliability, not this online questionnaire.

Interpret results as a self-report snapshot. Attention, memory, language, context, and willingness to notice associations can shape responses, so the profile is best treated as reflection rather than a conclusion.

Author: Richard E. Cytowic

Literature:

Lobanov, A. P. (1999). Synesthesia methodology. In S. I. Kopteva and A. P. Lobanov, Know Yourself: Current Problems of Psychology of Self-Consciousness. Minsk: Belarusian State Pedagogical University.
Cytowic, R. E. (2002). Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Eagleman, D. M., Kagan, A. D., Nelson, S. S., Sagaram, D., and Sarma, A. K. (2007). A standardized test battery for the study of synesthesia. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 159(1), 139-145. 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2006.07.012
Carmichael, D. A., Down, M. P., Shillcock, R. C., Eagleman, D. M., and Simner, J. (2015). Validating a standardised test battery for synesthesia: Does the Synesthesia Battery reliably detect synesthesia? Consciousness and Cognition, 33, 375-385. 10.1016/j.concog.2015.02.001

Updated: 2025-10-02