An outline of savant syndrome

Abstract

This article is a review of research on savant syndrome from years 2000-2022 - available in PubMed, ResearchGate and Google Scholar databases. Savant syndrome occurs with a frequency of 1.4 per 1,000 people with intellectual disabilities and in 10% of people with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders. Autism is the disorder that most often co-occurs with savant syndrome - in about 50% of all people with a savant syndrome diagnosis. Researchers distinguish between: congenital savant syndrome - which affects about 90% of people with the syndrome, and acquired savant syndrome - which occurs in the course of frontotemporal dementia or in people who have experienced trauma to the central nervous system. There are many cognitive theories that explain savant abilities. The anatomical basis of this entity has not been discovered using neuroimaging techniques. To date, no unified theory has been created that reliably explains the etiology and patho-mechanism of savant syndrome. Previous neuroimaging studies of people with symptoms of savant syndrome have been conducted on too few subjects. There are indications that magnetic brain stimulation may contribute to a better understanding of the neurophysiological basis of this syndrome.