A child with the ability to play a Mozart piano symphony at the age of 8, a man able to read 2 pages of a book in 8 seconds, one with each eye, children who create art that rivals the greats of history. These are examples of the skills of a savant. Savants are blessed with amazing abilities like these, performing feats of the mind unfathomable to us. This amazing gift, though, often comes coupled with a devastating curse, autism. This condition creates a huge social barrier between them and the rest of the world. Why these two come linked is not known, and few theories exist as to this reason. A great example of an autistic savant that you may know of is Raymond from the movie “Rain Man.” His skills of math and counting are those of a savant, and his social inaptitude is the result of autism. I will investigate the relation between savants and autism as well as some famous savants and talents they possess.

To attempt to understand savantism, and the relation it has to autism, we must first understand what autism is. Because the two, autism and savantism, are so closely linked, autism which is more fully understood, can offer us insight to savants. A clinical definition of autism as stated by the World Health Organization is “a developmental disability that results from a disorder of the human central nervous system.” The common effects of autism include a social inaptitude, communication problems, and repetitive behaviors. If you have seen the movie “Rain Man,” think back and consider how Raymond acted. You may also be familiar with the autistic student currently attending our middle school. Causes of autism are still in debate throughout the scientific community. Possible causes include vaccine mutations, stress, and genetics. It is agreed that these factors cause the brain to process information differently than non autistic people; these alternate strategies manifest themselves in a physical sense, with certain portions of the brain missing, incompletely developed, or connected differently.

With that short background in autism we can now explore savants. Now a savant is not necessarily disabled, and the word can refer to any person who is very learned in their field of study, but for our purpose savant will refer to one whose gift is due not to choice. Savant syndrome is “having both a severe developmental handicap and extraordinary mental abilities.” Telltale signs of savantism are similar to those of autism, including social issues even in those savants who are not autistic. The signs become much more blatant as the savant is able to communicate more readily with others, allowing their amazing talents to be seen. Their talents include some of the most amazing mental feats imaginable, such as reading two pages of a book at once, one with each eye, retaining the information, and being able to recall it at will. This is the gift of Kim Peek, an autistic savant.

Kim Peek was the inspiration for the movie “Rain Man.” Peeks savantism is partially the result of his interestingly formed brain, where the normal connections between the left and right lobes is nonexistent. Scientists say that this could be the source of his increased memory capacity. He is diagnosed as an autistic savant, but does not have “behavioral autism;” the difference is basically terminology. This means Peek is a savant with social disabilities but does not fit the qualifications of an autistic person; the term autistic is attached only to replace the term idiot savant, which sounds worse. Along with his ability to speed read and remember information, Peek is able to state the weekday of any date you give him for thousands of years. He can recall over 12,000 books from memory and do complex math in his head. The source of these abilities is still a mystery to science, and the methods he uses for these are as well. This gap between Peek’s and science’s knowledge exists because of his social disability; he is unable to explain his thought process.

That gap, though, is being bridged thanks to one man. Nicknamed “Brain man,” Daniel Tammet is the first recorded savant to have no recognizable autism. This is a great asset to researchers because he is the first savant with the ability to explain his thought process. The source of Daniel’s savantism is, like most savants, unknown, but can most likely be attributed to his childhood. He grew up with few signs of autism and eventually outgrew them; he did suffer epileptic seizures as a child, which may have caused his brain to function abnormally. Whatever the cause, Daniel is currently the focus of most scientific research in this field. His blessing is twofold, the first is his lack of autism, and the second is his perception of numbers. He sees numbers not as the Arabic numerals we have, but as shapes, colors, and feelings. To illustrate this, here is a clip from a recent documentary on him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vs6R5YZQ3c (0:00 – 0:23; 1:10 – 1:30)

To us that may be no big advantage, but the fact that every number into the thousands has its own distinct feeling aids his memory greatly; instead of having to remember 19678 as 5 numbers, to him it is one feeling. To us it would be comparable to remembering the number 1, much simpler. Using this strategy the Brain Man has performed feats like memorizing pi to beyond 20 thousand digits. Adding even greater interest to Daniel’s number feelings is the ability to identify prime numbers by their distinct “feeling.” Consider that if the qualities of every number are contained in Daniel’s emotion of it, then how they interact (when multiplying, etc) could be an interpolation of those feelings. It makes his performing mathematical operations very simple and fast. He can actually do large operations in his head, nearly instantly. Additionally his talents reach beyond mathematics. He once learned Icelandic, considered one of the hardest languages in the world, and became nearly fluent in it in just one week.

Not everything is known about Daniel’s method, and it is not likely that it will all ever be known, but his gifts to the understanding of savants and applications to mathematics are far reaching. Daniel is currently working with researchers at Cambridge University, one of which also has the “seeing feelings” Daniel exhibits. This partnership is shedding more and more light on savants and the brain itself.

The tie between autism and savants is not known for sure. One possibility is that they complement each other; the brain formation of children with autism increases their chance for savantism, and savantism creates autistic behaviors. It also appears as though brain trauma can trigger savantism. This is partially Tammett’s situation in that he suffered from epileptic seizures as a child. One other possibility is that the social inwardness of people with autism creates a world in which they can focus most of their brain on one specific thing. This could cause them to greatly excel in that area. The explanation of autism and savantism, probably lies somewhere in a complex combination of genetics and environmental factors, and only future science will be able to deduce that.

Whatever the true cause, it will not lessen the amazing abilities which savants possess. From the amazing skills of Kim Peek, to the scientific insight of Brain Man, Daniel Tammett, comes and entire new way of perceiving the world and information. How do you think they would have perceived this speech?