Pilliard Dickle's Mental Condition It's called Synesthesia, a perceptual anomaly that affects about one in 25,000 people. Synesthesia is a cross-wiring of the senses that occurs in the left hemisphere of the brain. A person with synesthesia may hear colors, taste sounds or feel shapes. In Pilliard Dickle’s case, he sees the passage of time “Ever since I was a child, I’ve had a visual concept of time,”he explains.”Days, weeks and months have distinct shapes and colors. It’s not so much like time is passing, it’s more like time is a structure, and we’re moving through it. If somebody says, ‘Let’s get together next Tuesday,’ I picture Tuesday as if it were a place—I can see its shape, its color and its position within the week. It’s involuntary, and constant."