Savant Syndrome: Growth of Empathy and Creativity

Abstract

S avant S yndrome : Growth of Empathy and Creativity B S J Kapil Gururangan Recent years have seen the rise of autism spectrum disorders in global news. Diagnosed cases are at an all-time high (affecting 1 in 110 children) and awareness for the condition has been aided by benefits, celebrity activism, and more sophisticated research. However, another condition, not so dissimilar, has remained largely underground in its significance to our understanding of the human brain. The character brought to fame by actor Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, Raymond Babbitt, was based off one of the rarest of individuals – a savant. Individuals diagnosed with savant syndrome boast unparalleled ability in certain skills and subject areas. However, they also display trademark signs of autism Figure 1. Dustin Hoffman portraying a savant in Rain Man spectrum disorders (ASD, including autism and Asperger alongside Tom Cruise. (Associated Press 2009) syndrome) and other learning and developmental disabilities, which creates an interesting backdrop to a savant’s impressive talent (Treffert 2009, 1351). Dr. John Langdon Down, who was famous for identifying Down’s syndrome, labeled ten of his patients as “idiot savants” in 1887, bringing “the remarkable coexistence of deficiency and superiority” to the attention of the scientific community (Treffert & Wallace 2004, 16). Notable scientists, such as Dr. Darold Treffert from the University of Wisconsin, Dr. V.S. Ramachandran of University of California, San Diego, and Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen at the University of Cambridge, have tried to discover where this extraordinary talent comes from and how it coexists within the vicinity of a savant’s disability. Explaining Savantism: An Introduction to Intrinsic Greatness “damage compensation” theory explains the skewed ratio, roughly 6:1, of male to female savants (Treffert 2009, 1353). The left hemisphere develops slower than the right, and is thus vulnerable for a longer period. Higher levels of testosterone circulating in male fetuses inhibits the growth left hemisphere, causing the “the remarkable coexistence of superiority right brain to adapt and compensate for the inability of the left brain to and deficiency.” perform optimally (Treffert & Wallace 2004, 21). This not only causes most savant abilities, such as math, music, and art, to be centered in the right brain but also supports the idea that a savant derives injury or disease later in infancy, childhood, or adult his memory and ability by drawing on low-level life (Treffert 2009, 1354). Their conditions are varied information processing (Treffert 2009, 1356; Treffert & and no one explanation appears to satisfy every case, Wallace 2004, 17; Peek 2006). Ramachandran calls this but one of the most prominent theories concerning the a lack of “conceptual encoding,” which causes a savant incidence of savantism says that the right hemisphere to remember information exactly as it is presented of the brain compensates for damage in the left without analyzing it (Peek 2006). This causes savants hemisphere (Moran 2010, 14; Treffert 2009, 1354). This The extraordinary talents associated with prodigious savants are invariably linked to memory (Treffert 2009, 1351). Savant syndrome can be congenital, meaning the result of a genetic defect, or acquired following brain 1 • B erkeley S cientific J ournal • E conomics • S pring 2010 • V olume 13 • I ssue 2