Savant Syndrome: Current Research and Conclusions

Abstract

Savant Syndrome (SS) is a condition (more frequent in autistic or other mentally disabled populations) where an individual is gifted with exceptionally high ability in one area while scoring low on other intelligence measures. This paper reviews several contemporary articles on Savant Syndrome, including connections between Savant Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders, Frontotemporal Dementia, and epilepsy. The theories described focus on connections between Savant Syndrome, acute attention to detail, and pattern recognition. Special attention is paid to explanations that account for Savant Syndrome’s status as both congenital and acquired, particularly as this status suggests savant abilities might be present in all humans and that diagnosed savants have only achieved access to those abilities denied to normal individuals. Researchers agree that understanding Savant Syndrome has important implications for our understanding of the human brain, and several advocate further study into the possibility of inducing savant abilities in normal individuals.

Savant Syndrome: Current Research and Conclusions

Savant Syndrome (SS) is a condition (more frequent in autistic or other mentally disabled populations) where an individual is gifted with exceptionally high ability in one area while scoring low on other intelligence measures (Treffert, 2009, p. 1351). Abilities can vary somewhat, but most commonly include drawing, sculpture, or other artistic ability, musical ability (both instrumental and compositional) calendar calculating, mathematics or mechanical skills (Treffert, 2009, p. 1352). Savant Syndrome is rare. It exists in about 10% of autistic patients and can also appear in people with central nervous system injuries or disabilities. About half of savants are autistic, and there are considerably more male savants than female savants (Treffert, 2009, p. 1352). Although inquiries into the mechanisms behind Savant Syndrome have increased in recent years, in part because technology has made such inquiries easier, questions remain about precisely what causes the condition. Understanding Savant Syndrome not only has implications for treating savants and integrating them into normal society, but it can also enhance our understanding of how the human brain works and might enable us to stimulate savant skills latent within us all.

Darold Treffert (2009) presents an overview of Savant Syndrome, including historical anecdotal evidence for the condition and implications and suggestions for future research. He begins by listing a few of the earliest known documented mentions of savantism, noting a common combination of blindness, musical savantism, and mental handicap. Treffert mentions the proportionately high number of male savants and suggests increased testosterone in utero may influence the growth of the left hemisphere of the brain. Treffert hypothesizes that this could explain why most savants are male. For Treffert, the mental abilities that together define Savant Syndrome are “intriguingly narrow” and linked by prodigious memory (Treffert, 2009, p. 1353). This differs from other researchers who have chosen to consider prodigious memory a separate skill.

Treffert details what he considers to be a spectrum of savant skills. Treffert’s spectrum begins with an obsessive memorization of facts and statistics he calls splinter skills. In the center of the spectrum are talented savants, who display a savant ability that stands out against their other disabilities. Treffert places prodigious savants at the far end of the spectrum. Prodigious savants are individuals whose talents are so great that they would stand out even if those individuals weren’t mentally disabled (2009, p. 1353).

As he continues to outline basic agreements about Savant Syndrome among the psychological community today, Treffert stresses that savantism can be congenital or acquired. He asserts the theory that savant ability progresses from replication to improvisation and, if allowed, to creativity. This differs from other researchers who do not consider Savant Syndrome to involve demonstrable creativity.

Treffert strongly advocates that the treatment of individuals with Savant Syndrome should focus on further training and encouraging their talent instead of primarily highlighting and eliminating their deficiencies. For Treffert, savant ability is a conduit to normalization. A savant’s special talent can and has been a means of communicating with and contributing to society.

Finally, Treffert links an understanding of the mechanism of Savant Syndrome to an understanding of the way the brain works in both normal and disabled individuals. He highlights how contemporary imaging technology can advance our understanding of how the savant brain operates and is particularly interested in incorporating brain imaging while a savant is performing their talent. For Treffert, this technology has the potential to facilitate more standardized tests on which to base conclusions about the condition, as opposed to relying on individualized anecdotal results as has been common practice thus far. He concludes by praising the successes researchers have recently had in better understanding the Savant Syndrome and expresses his hope that further quantitative research will help us to understand the savant in all of us.

Whereas Treffert merely outlines basic observations about Savant Syndrome and suggests directions for the future, Happé and Vital (2009) posit an explanation for the condition’s existence. In their article “What Aspects of Autism Predispose to Talent?” Happé and Vital describe Weak Central Coherence Theory, the idea that Savant Syndrome abilities arise from the pre-wired tendency of certain brains to focus on details instead of understanding the whole.

Happé and Vital begin by exploring three theories that identify an impaired recognition of mental states as a possible explanation for the association between Autism Spectrum Conditions and talent. One of these is the idea, first suggested by Waterhouse (1988) that individuals with ASC can repurpose the parts of the brain that normal individuals are using to memorize and track social content. For this to be true, Happé and Vital argue that there would be a predictable, measurable inverse relationship between extraordinary talent and social skills. They assert that no such relationship appears to exist. Second, Happé and Vital discuss the theory that an inability to read others’ mental states allows ASC individuals to think more originally. Because they do not see or choose not to consider another person’s opinion or perspective, they would not likely notice or wish to replicate the way others communicate an idea. Although Happé and Vital do not discount this relationship, they point out that original thought does not necessarily signal talent. For them, talent should distinguish an original thought as “an advance on traditional thinking” Happé and Vital, 2009, p. 1370), not just an original thought that runs parallel to the standard. The third theory outlined is the idea that individuals with ASC have difficulty reflecting on their mental states and are therefore less self-aware. Happé and Vital suggest that this lack of self-awareness can make certain kinds of learning easier. Taking this one step further, it can also promote a sense of “flow” during an engagement with a task commonly considered to be conducive to artistic creativity. Happé and Vital allow that increased incidences of flow might encourage mastery over certain tasks but are unwilling to consider this phenomenon something that acts “as the starting engine for talent” (Happé and Vital, 2009, p. 1370).

That “starting engine,” according to Happé and Vital, is instead a tendency to focus on details. They consider the high incidence of perfect pitch or the ability to draw realistically among savants as evidence of this detail focus and use results from a twin study to support this idea. Happé and Vital collected data that was part of the longitudinal Twins Early Development Study of twins born in England and Wales between 1994 and 1996. Parents of these twins were asked to rate the incidence of exceptional skills in their children. Happé and Vital compared these results with the incidents of ASC-like traits and found a solid connection between the two. Although they were not prepared to suggest a causal direction, Happé and Vital concluded that an eye for detail predisposes children to talent and savantism. They stress that an eye for detail, probably the result of a disconnect in the part of the brain that usually bundles details into larger packets of information (weak central coherence) can and does occur outside of the autistic spectrum and is often present in the family members of identified savants, a fact that suggests that savants do not have to be ASC, that ASC individuals do not have to be savants, and that this trait is linked to talent.

Laurent Mottron, Michelle Dawson and Isabelle Soulières disagree with the idea of Weak Central Coherence Theory. In their article, “Enhanced Perception in Savant Syndrome: Patterns, Structure and Creativity” (2009), Mottron et al. examine perception and pattern recognition among savants to determine the mechanism of Savant Syndrome. They identify an ability to detect patterns and a drive to complete patterns within a larger system as a defining characteristic of people with Savant Syndrome and consider this ability central to understanding how the savant brain works.

Mottron et al. begin by defining “enhanced perceptual functioning” (EPF) as a defining characteristic of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. The researchers stress that this enhanced perceptual functioning is best considered a different way of processing information than the result of a problem with the “normal” way of processing information, particularly detail. This connection is applied to Savant Syndrome and it is concluded that perception and the mechanisms thereof are important to understanding Savant Syndrome. Although Mottron et al. focus on this importance, they also stress that the connection between enhanced perceptual functioning and Savant Syndrome is not fully understood.

Savant Syndrome is described as mastery over “human codes,” concrete structures created by people. These include the usual areas in which savants excel, such as calendar counting, mathematics, music, art, and mechanics. Recognizing this connection supports the theory that savantism is pattern recognition instead of a strong eidetic-type memory. One interesting point made by the authors is that much of savant ability appears not only to be evidence of human code mastery but of “between-code mapping.” Between-code mapping is defined as the synthesis of two different codes or patterns within one discipline. One example of this would be hyperlexia, or fast-reading. Mottron et al. posit that hyperlexia is the simultaneous mapping of graphic codes (the shape of letters) and oral codes (the words themselves).

Mottron et al. continue to use this idea of pattern recognition and mastery to explain a savant’s ability to be creative. They suggest that were savantism to be merely an extraordinary instance of rote memory, creativity would not necessarily follow. As an alternative, Mottron et al. consider savant productions as expressions of the understood patterns. They present the idea of incorporating multiple codes simultaneously as an explanation for extreme creativity existing within the basic idea of pattern recognition. This is also an explanation for the tendency of savants to specialize, since focusing on understanding and expressing codes that can be combined or relate to one another (creating a larger code system) would likely be an appealing activity.

To understand how Savant Syndrome arises at first, Mottron et al. note that individuals with Savant Syndrome exhibit positive emotions while performing their extraordinary abilities. They are happy when doing what they do best. Autistic individuals also generally exhibit positive emotions when engaged in a task that requires an understandable order and negative emotions when exposed to new systems or chaos. They suggest that a future savant’s initial experience of positive emotions upon recognition of order acts as the catalyst for individuals with the tendency to develop savant skills. As they continue to seek out these positive emotions, their talent grows.

Simon Baron-Cohen, Emma Ashwin, Chris Ashwin, Teresa Tavassoli and Bhismadev Chakrabarti also explore the connection between pattern recognition, Autism Spectrum Conditions, and Savant Syndrome in their article “Talent in Autism: Hyper-Systemizing, Hyper-Attention to Detail and Sensory Hypersensitivity” (2009). For Baron-Cohen et al., individuals with ASC frequently demonstrate sensory hypersensitivity. This sensory hypersensitivity predisposes ASC individuals to having a higher attention to detail. This higher attention to detail, in turn, predisposes towards hyper-systemizing, or the tendency to recognize concrete patterns and incorporate new sensory input into those concrete patterns. Ultimately, this hyper-systematization is useful in the creation of talent and can result in Savant Syndrome when channeled in a particular way.

Baron-Cohen et al. begin by defining systemization and comparing their own Hyper-Systemizing Theory with studies that conclude ASC behaviors are the result of only a hyper-attention to detail (Weak Central Coherence Theory, or WCC) and theories that conclude such behaviors result from an inability to easily switch attention (Executive Dysfunction Theory, or ED).

Weak Central Coherence is deemed inadequate because although it recognizes the ability of ASC individuals to perform above average on tasks that require a high attention to detail, it does not allow that these individuals can, over time, appreciate their actions as one part of an entire system. Baron-Cohen et al. also stress that WCC illustrates the actions of ASC individuals as either negative, as “an inability to integrate” (Baron-Cohen et al., 2009, p. 1379) or because their local processing is stronger than other systems, while hyper-systemizing theory stresses that the behaviors in question are purposeful and even an important adaptation for the human population as a whole.

Executive Dysfunction Theory is likewise dismissed because it “has difficulty in explaining instances of a good understanding of a whole system” (Baron-Cohen et al., 2009, p. 1380). Executive Dysfunction theory is also criticized for having a somewhat negative cast behind its explanations. While ED would characterize certain repetitive behaviors as evidence of an inability to alter attention, hyper-systemizing theory instead interprets these repetitive behaviors more positively, as an individual taking pleasure in the reliability of whatever system is involved in the repetition.

The refreshing insistence to interpret behavior patterns of individuals with ASC as a positive and purposeful human adaptation reaches its nexus regarding Savant Syndrome and its connection to ASC. For Baron-Cohen et al., savantism is merely a natural result that occurs when hypersensitive individuals are exposed to an identifiable and reliable system (music and math are two common examples) and can explore the details and intricacies of that system until it is understood completely.

Whereas many researchers have focused on the specific mechanisms of Savant Syndrome, John Hughes explores the connections between Savant Syndrome and epilepsy in his article “A Review of Savant Syndrome and its Possible Relationship to Epilepsy” (2010). Hughes begins by distinguishing between Congenital and Acquired Savant Syndrome, providing examples of each. Congenital Savant Syndrome can encompass any kind of special skill or talent and assumes the talent or ability is present at birth. This is the kind of Savant Syndrome linked to Autism. Acquired Savant Syndrome is when a talent emerges later in life, generally “after some brain injury or brain disease…sometimes at a prodigious level, when no such skills were present before injury or illness” (Hughes, 2010, p. 149). Hughes highlights frontotemporal dementia (FTD) as a condition with a pronounced link to acquired savantism. He also discusses experiments on normal individuals that encouraged savant types of skills while the individuals underwent magnetic transcranial stimulation.

Hughes continues to explore explanations of SS and includes mention of weak central coherence theory as well as “enhanced perceptual functioning, dysfunctional attention, and obsessive preoccupation” (Hughes, 2010, p. 151). He outlines the general characteristics of individuals with SS apart from the presence of exceptional ability and includes mention of average intelligence and a tendency to focus on details. Hughes also stresses the importance of the right hemisphere and/or the prefrontal areas of the brain to the incidence of SS. Despite the title of the article, little mention of the connection between epilepsy and SS is discussed, suggesting that while it is possible to have both conditions, no direct link has been discovered.

One of the most intriguing veins of research surrounding Savant Syndrome is the idea that savant abilities are latent in all humans and those identified as having Savant Syndrome have merely gained access to those latent abilities. Alan Snyder explores this idea in his article, “Explaining and Inducing Savant Skills: Privileged Access to Lower Level, Less-processed Information” (2009). Snyder posits that it is a breakdown in top-down inhibition that allows certain individuals to access these abilities. He explores the idea of inducing these talents in otherwise normal individuals. Snyder acknowledges that the precise physiological mechanism for gaining this privileged access isn’t understood but is a worthwhile area of exploration.

Snyder differs from other researchers of Savant Syndrome by saying that savant skills are not creative, only imitative. However, he believes that looking at a problem from an “autistic” perspective, if such a condition were to be induced temporarily in a normal individual, could allow them to see an otherwise invisible answer to a complex problem and therefore be of use to society.

One interesting point that Snyder raises is that the consistency of savant abilities despite the relatively small amount of possibilities across all cultures suggests latency. No apparent cultural factors are affecting what talents appear in savant syndrome individuals.

Another piece of evidence towards which Snyder points is the existence of acquired savant syndrome. If these abilities were not latent, how would they appear spontaneously after injury, illness to the central nervous system, or even temporarily while under the influence of hallucinogens? All these actualities point to Savant Syndrome being a question of information access.

Snyder continues to explain the successful induction of savant skills temporarily using inhibiting neural activity in the Left Anterior Temporal Lobe via repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. These include the successful induction of savant-like drawing skills, proofreading skills, and numerosity (the ability to estimate the number of objects without counting or math).

Snyder hypothesizes that not everyone exhibits savant tendencies because the brain’s adaptation to label information into packets facilitates quicker decision making and perhaps learning. He suggests that the reason that not all ASC people are savants is that some have other disorders. For Snyder, autistic savants are pure autistics.

Snyder concludes by suggesting that the human brain has found multiple paths to creativity, each with a useful place. The autistic brain can see raw details and order them clearly within an existing system without resorting to bias, while a normal brain can see connections across systems, creating new systems in the process.

Although there is a significant interest in Savant Syndrome, particularly as it might be of service to society or induced in normal individuals, the current state of research surrounding Savant Syndrome is limited to theorizing without real experimental data to support any one mechanism or conclusion. The judicious use of contemporary imaging technology in studies of individuals with Savant Syndrome can enhance this field of inquiry and possibly provide important insight into the study of human brain function.

References

Baron-Cohen, S., Ashwin, E., Ashwin, C., Tavassoli, T., & Chakrabarti, B. (2009). Talent in autism: Hyper-systemizing, hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1377-1383.

Happé, F., & Vital, P. (2009). What aspects of autism predispose to talent? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1369-1375.

Hughes, J. R. (2010). A review of Savant Syndrome and its possible relationship to epilepsy. Epilepsy & Behavior, 17(2), 147-152.

Mottron, L., Dawson, M., & Soulieres, I. (2009). Enhanced perception in savant syndrome: patterns, structure and creativity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1385-1391.

Snyder, A. (2009). Explaining and inducing savant skills: privileged access to lower level, less-processed information. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1399-1405.

Treffert, D. A. (2009). The Savant Syndrome: An extraordinary condition. a synopsis: Past, present, future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1351-1357.