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Savant syndrome
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Savant syndrome
Savant syndrome (/ˈsæ.vənt, sæ.ˈvɑːnt/ SAV-ənt, sə-VAHNT, US also /sə.ˈvɑːnt/ sə-AVHNT) is a phenomenon where someone demonstrates exceptional aptitude in one domain, such as art or mathematics, with such aptitude often coinciding with some form of social or intellectual impairment.
Those with the condition generally have a neurodevelopmental condition, such as autism, or have experienced a brain injury. About half of cases are associated with autism, and these individuals may be known as autistic savants. The other half often have some form of central nervous system injury or disease. While the condition usually becomes apparent in childhood, some cases develop later in life. It is not recognized as a mental disorder within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), as it relates to parts of the brain healing or restructuring.
Savant syndrome is estimated to affect around one in a million people. The condition affects more males than females, at a ratio of 6:1. The first medical account of the condition was in 1783. It is estimated that between 0.5% and 10% of those with autism have some form of savant abilities. It is estimated that fewer than one hundred prodigious savants are currently living, with skills so extraordinary that they would be considered spectacular even among unimpaired individuals.
Savant skills are usually found in one or more of five major areas: art, memory, arithmetic, musical abilities, and spatial skills. The most common kinds of savants are calendrical savants, "human calendars" who can calculate the day of the week for any given date with speed and accuracy, or recall personal memories from any given date. Advanced memory is the key "superpower" in savant abilities.
A calendrical savant (or calendar savant) is someone who – despite having an intellectual disability – can name the day of the week of a date, or vice versa, on a limited range of decades or certain millennia. The rarity of human calendar calculators is possibly due to the lack of motivation to develop such skills among the general population, although mathematicians have developed algorithms that allow them to obtain similar skills. Calendrical savants, on the other hand, may not be prone to invest in socially engaging skills.
No widely accepted cognitive theory explains savants' combination of talent and deficit. It has been suggested that individuals with autism are biased towards detail-focused processing and that this cognitive style predisposes individuals either with or without autism to savant talents. Another hypothesis is that savants hyper-systemize, thereby giving an impression of talent. Hyper-systemizing is an extreme state in the empathising–systemising theory that classifies people based on their skills in empathizing with others versus systemizing facts about the external world. Also, the attention to detail of savants is a consequence of enhanced perception or sensory hypersensitivity in these unique individuals. It has also been hypothesized that some savants operate by directly accessing deep, unfiltered information that exists in all human brains that is not normally available to conscious awareness.
In some cases, savant syndrome can be induced following severe head trauma to the left anterior temporal lobe. Savant syndrome has been artificially replicated using low-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation to temporarily disable this area of the brain.
There are no objectively definitive statistics about how many people have savant skills. The estimates range from "exceedingly rare" to one in ten people with autism having savant skills in varying degrees. A 2009 British study of 137 parents of autistic children found that 28% believe their children met the criteria for a savant skill, defined as a skill or power "at a level that would be unusual even for 'normal' people". As many as 50 cases of sudden or acquired savant syndrome have been reported.
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Savant syndrome AI simulator
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Savant syndrome
Savant syndrome (/ˈsæ.vənt, sæ.ˈvɑːnt/ SAV-ənt, sə-VAHNT, US also /sə.ˈvɑːnt/ sə-AVHNT) is a phenomenon where someone demonstrates exceptional aptitude in one domain, such as art or mathematics, with such aptitude often coinciding with some form of social or intellectual impairment.
Those with the condition generally have a neurodevelopmental condition, such as autism, or have experienced a brain injury. About half of cases are associated with autism, and these individuals may be known as autistic savants. The other half often have some form of central nervous system injury or disease. While the condition usually becomes apparent in childhood, some cases develop later in life. It is not recognized as a mental disorder within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), as it relates to parts of the brain healing or restructuring.
Savant syndrome is estimated to affect around one in a million people. The condition affects more males than females, at a ratio of 6:1. The first medical account of the condition was in 1783. It is estimated that between 0.5% and 10% of those with autism have some form of savant abilities. It is estimated that fewer than one hundred prodigious savants are currently living, with skills so extraordinary that they would be considered spectacular even among unimpaired individuals.
Savant skills are usually found in one or more of five major areas: art, memory, arithmetic, musical abilities, and spatial skills. The most common kinds of savants are calendrical savants, "human calendars" who can calculate the day of the week for any given date with speed and accuracy, or recall personal memories from any given date. Advanced memory is the key "superpower" in savant abilities.
A calendrical savant (or calendar savant) is someone who – despite having an intellectual disability – can name the day of the week of a date, or vice versa, on a limited range of decades or certain millennia. The rarity of human calendar calculators is possibly due to the lack of motivation to develop such skills among the general population, although mathematicians have developed algorithms that allow them to obtain similar skills. Calendrical savants, on the other hand, may not be prone to invest in socially engaging skills.
No widely accepted cognitive theory explains savants' combination of talent and deficit. It has been suggested that individuals with autism are biased towards detail-focused processing and that this cognitive style predisposes individuals either with or without autism to savant talents. Another hypothesis is that savants hyper-systemize, thereby giving an impression of talent. Hyper-systemizing is an extreme state in the empathising–systemising theory that classifies people based on their skills in empathizing with others versus systemizing facts about the external world. Also, the attention to detail of savants is a consequence of enhanced perception or sensory hypersensitivity in these unique individuals. It has also been hypothesized that some savants operate by directly accessing deep, unfiltered information that exists in all human brains that is not normally available to conscious awareness.
In some cases, savant syndrome can be induced following severe head trauma to the left anterior temporal lobe. Savant syndrome has been artificially replicated using low-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation to temporarily disable this area of the brain.
There are no objectively definitive statistics about how many people have savant skills. The estimates range from "exceedingly rare" to one in ten people with autism having savant skills in varying degrees. A 2009 British study of 137 parents of autistic children found that 28% believe their children met the criteria for a savant skill, defined as a skill or power "at a level that would be unusual even for 'normal' people". As many as 50 cases of sudden or acquired savant syndrome have been reported.
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