Abstract
BackgroundSavant syndrome is a condition where prodigious talent can co-occur with developmental conditions such as autism spectrum conditions (autism). It is not yet clear why some autistic people develop savant skills while others do not.MethodsWe tested three groups of adults: autistic individuals who have savant skills, autistic individuals without savant skills, and typical controls without autism or savant syndrome. In experiment 1, we investigated the cognitive and behavioural profiles of these three groups by asking participants to complete a battery of self-report measures of sensory sensitivity, obsessional behaviours, cognitive styles, and broader autism-related traits including social communication and systemising. In experiment 2, we investigated how our three groups learned a novel savant skill—calendar calculation.ResultsHeightened sensory sensitivity, obsessional behaviours, technical/spatial abilities, and systemising were all key aspects in defining the savant profile distinct from autism alone, along with a different approach to task learning.ConclusionsThese results reveal a unique cognitive and behavioural profile in autistic adults with savant syndrome that is distinct from autistic adults without a savant skill.
Highlights
Savant syndrome is a condition where prodigious talent can co-occur with developmental conditions such as autism spectrum conditions
We look at two groups of autistic individuals, with and without a savant skill
We provided a definition of prodigious savant syndrome and asked: ‘Do you think that you have any skills, abilities, or talents that are beyond the abilities of the general population?’ Participants who responded in the affirmative to this question were given a list of nine categories of savant skills to choose from and used check boxes to indicate the skills that were relevant to them
Summary
Savant syndrome is a condition where prodigious talent can co-occur with developmental conditions such as autism spectrum conditions (autism). It is not yet clear why some autistic people develop savant skills while others do not. People with savant syndrome are characterised by their remarkable talent in one or more domains (e.g. music, memory) and by the presence of some form of developmental condition such as autism spectrum conditions ( autism) [1]. A well-known example of a prodigious savant is the artist Stephen Wiltshire who is capable of drawing hyper-detailed cityscapes from memory and who has autism [6]. Savant skills can exist in a variety of areas, but most savants show skills in art (e.g. hyper-detailed drawings), music (proficiency in musical instrument playing), maths (fast mental arithmetic), calendar calculation (the ability to provide the day of the week for any given date), and memory recall of facts, events, numbers etc. [7]
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