Judy Stokes, a retired GP, has a rare form of synaesthesia that allows her to see time as a three-dimensional grid in her mind. The condition, known as spatial-sequence synaesthesia, means that when she hears a date, it appears as a diagram in her head, with holidays and events already imprinted. Her mental calendar stretches from around 100,000 BC to the year 2500.
Stokes only discovered the name for her condition in her 60s, after decades of confusion. She had previously mentioned to a friend that Tuesdays were yellow, but received a puzzled response. It was not until she stumbled upon research from Macquarie University in Sydney about grapheme-colour synaesthesia that she realised others shared similar experiences. She later learned about spatial-sequence synaesthesia, which fitted her perception of time, numbers and letters.
Stokes says the main benefit of her synaesthesia is memory. She can recall birthdays of friends she has not seen for 65 years and vividly picture her kindergarten classroom. It also helps with maths and handling money, as she can visualise number maps. However, she notes that with modern technology, the condition is less useful for planning than it once was.
Despite sometimes wishing for a less structured mind, Stokes finds her condition fascinating. She hopes that future research will better understand neural patterns, and she is willing to donate her brain to science. 'We are all alike and yet our brains are surprisingly different. Long may that continue,' she said.
