All eleven subjects also had number-color synesthesia. For the numerals 0 through 9, five of these people turned out to have color associations that matched sets of magnetic numbers sold along with ...

Magnetic letters and numbers were first introduced in the Fisher-Price School Days Desk. ... Kids could pull colorful alphabet magnets out of the School Days Desk and fit them into matching holes.

He found that all 11 subjects had a similarly colored alphabet that paralleled the childhood magnet set. All but one of the participants recalled having this toy during their childhoods.

They are a ubiquitous childhood toy: alphabet fridge magnets. You may remember some from your own childhood, though they probably weren’t your most beloved of games. But for some people, especially ...