Abstract
The left–right hemispheric differences in some brain functions are well known in humans. Among them, savant syndrome has unique features, such as exceptional abilities in vision, memory, computation, and music, despite brain abnormalities. In cases of acquired savant and transient savant, brain damage or inhibition is often seen in the left hemisphere, suggesting a link between left hemispheric dysfunction and these talents. On the other hand, some functional left–right differences have been reported in rodent brains, and therefore, unilateral damage in rodents may also result in savant-like enhancements. In the present study, we examined the effects of hippocampal damage on spatial learning in rats with left, right, or bilateral hippocampal lesion. The results showed that learning performance was impaired in the bilateral lesion group, and there was no significant difference in the left lesion group, while performance was enhanced in the right lesion group. These results suggest that damage to the right hippocampus in rats may lead to savant-like enhancement in learning and memory. The construction of the savant model through these results will contribute to the neuroscientific elucidation of the paradoxical phenomenon observed in savants, that some abilities are enhanced despite their brain dysfunction.
Highlights
IntroductionAnatomical and functional hemispheric asymmetries and associated left hemispheric functional inhibition and right hemispheric functional enhancement have been frequently reported in autistic persons [19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28]
Other types of savant have been reported, such as acquired savant, in which an ability is acquired through an accident or disease [6,10,11,12,13], and transient savant, in which a similar ability is demonstrated by temporarily suppressing a certain brain region using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or transcranial direct current stimulation [14,15,16]
The aim of this study was to investigate whether left or right unilateral hippocampal damage can lead to the development of savant-like exceptional learning and memory abilities
Summary
Anatomical and functional hemispheric asymmetries and associated left hemispheric functional inhibition and right hemispheric functional enhancement have been frequently reported in autistic persons [19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28]. TMS-induced functional inhibition of the left frontotemporal lobe leads to improved performance on a visual quantity estimation task [14]. Functional inhibition of the left anterior temporal lobe and functional activation of the right anterior temporal lobe using tDCS showed visual memory enhancement [15]
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