A person with Savant Syndrome can memorize millions of facts, artistically reproduce what they see and play instruments without the need for learning, however some of them cannot even cover their most basic needs.
What is Savant syndrome?
It was J.Langdon Down, who discovered Down Syndrome or trisomy 21 phenotype syndrome, who coined the term idiot savant (wise idiot) that ended up being little accepted and becoming somewhat obsolete. Nowadays it is mainly known by the name Savant Syndrome or Savant Syndrome.
Gifted and deficient at the same time
Savantism combines generally low cognitive functioning with one or more exceptional abilities. Music, art, calculation or memory are some of the areas in which these people usually excel. It is a rare disorder. Its low prevalence among the general population, together with the difficulties of fitting it into a specific disorder such as autism or qualities such as giftedness, make this syndrome a headache for many students of the subject.
This syndrome has a series of general characteristics based on a low IQ, high abilities or talents related to art, music, memory or calculation, little logic and language problems, high visual memory, great ability to capture and reproduce drawings or 3D images, mechanical skills, great social difficulties and obsessive interests among other qualities and deficits.
In general, this syndrome is usually considered, within developmental disorders, as a special type of autism, resembling to a greater extent Asperger’s syndrome, which within the autism spectrum is considered the least profound disorder.
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In Savant Syndrome, the hypotheses formulated under the possibility of brain damage in the left hemisphere have been supported by current neuroimaging evidence. In this way, a Savant could have a more developed right hemisphere, which is responsible for such extraordinary talents.
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