Neurobiology of Savant Syndrome

Abstract

OVERVIEW Examples of individuals who demonstrate extreme variations between abilities present a challenge to our understanding of brain functioning and in particular a unified view of intelligence. Such individuals often referred to as " savants " are the focus of this chapter. The question as to how brilliance can be achieved in a specific domain despite limited cognitive functioning in all other domains has occupied researchers for more than a century. Several explanations have been advanced which include inheritance, eidetic memory, attention, concrete thinking, sensory deprivation, compensation, reinforcement and intuition yet there remains no clear understanding as to the nature of the mental functioning involved. This chapter presents a detailed account of recent research in this field. Cog-nitive and neurological explanations of savants have been evaluated to determine processes that may underpin and sustain savant skills. The conclusion proposed is that the existence of savants is consistent with a theory that some skills are based on relatively well-differentiated neurological capacities that have been preserved despite damage to other areas of the brain. The nature of these capacities will also be discussed.