Children of the 1970s and 1980s will likely remember the chunky , plastic Fisher-Price magnets that adorned fridges in family homes . The popular toys were designed to help teach children to read and spell . But for some people , they had another unintended consequence ; the magnets forever changed the colours that people would associate with letters . The child with the hood in this photo was born in 1988 and is an adult synesthete . His colour-letter pairings matched 25 of the 26 letters in the Fisher-Price magnet set , which is in the foreground . At least that 's the conclusion of a study on synaesthesia - a neurological condition in which two or more senses experienced separately are involuntarily joined together . For instance , some synaesthetes experience colour when they hear sounds or read words . Others experience tastes , smells or shapes . It is believe that around one in 10,000 of people have synaesthesia , and scientists are still unsure exactly what causes some people to perceive two senses at the same time . A large amount of research , according to Discover magazine , has previously suggested the condition can be learned , rather than being the result of genetic factors . This graphic shows the results for 400 synesthetes with 10 or more letters matching the toy . The rows correspond to participants and columns to letters . The colours along the bottom represent the most frequently chosen colour label for each letter . The latest study adds to that body of work by suggesting the toy caused a generation to foreever link A with red , F with purple and P with green . Researchers from the Department of Psychology at Stanford University used data from 6,588 registered users to determine which colours are most commonly associated with which letters . They then compared these colour-letter matches to fridge magnets sold by Fisher-Price between 1971 and 1990 . The results revealed that at least six per cent ( 400 out of the 6588 participants ) learnt 'many of their matches ' from the Fisher-Price set . Among those born in the decade after the toy began to be manufactured , the proportion of synesthetes with learned letter-colour pairings was closer to 15 per cent . The colours in the toy ( upper row ) , the average colour choice for each letter from the 6188 synesthetes ( middle row ) , and the most commonly assigned colour for each letter for the 400 synesthetes are shown here . Fig C shows when the choice does not match the toy ( bottom row ) Red bars show proportion of participants with 10 or more matches to the magnet set . Grey bars show participants with seven or more matches . For participants born between 1970 and 1985 , the prevalence of synesthesia apparently learned from the Fisher-Price set can exceed 15 per cent . Synaesthesia is a neurological condition in which two or more senses experienced separately are involuntarily joined together . For instance , some synaesthetes experience colour when they hear sounds or read words . Others experience tastes , smells or shapes . Some people are born with synaesthesia , while others experience it after a stroke , or while using psychedelic drugs such as LSD . Famous synaesthetes include singers Pharrell Williams and Lady Gaga . There have also been studies in which researchers claimed to have taught people to be synaesthetic - and as a result it is a widely contested condition . Reports claim it can affect as many as one in 23 people and has been linked with high-levels of creativity and intelligence . But among those born five years or more before it was manufactured , none of the colour-letter matches were aligned with the colours used in the set . 'Analysis of the letter-colour matching data suggests the only difference between synesthetes with matches to the toy and those without is exposure to the stimulus , ' explained the paper . 'This indicates learning of letter-colour pairings from external [ sources ] can occur in a substantial fraction of synesthetic , and are consistent with the hypothesis that synesthesia is a kind of conditioned mental imagery . ' The authors did point out , however , that there may have been other cues – such as cultural influences , or other popular toys or magnet sets that played a role . They also said their findings do n't suggest that colourful toys cause synaesthesia . Instead the associations of people already predisposed to the condition can be influenced by external factors . The authors did point out that there may have been other cues – such as cultural influences , or other popular toys or magnet sets that played a role .
Synaesthesia is a condition in which separate senses are linked . Scientists determined which colours are usually connected with letters . They then compared these colour-letter matches to Fisher-Price magnets . They claim 6 % of people learnt their matches from the Fisher-Price toy .