The Savant Hypothesis: Is autism a signal-processing problem?

Abstract

Autism is being investigated through many different approaches. This paper suggests the genetic, perceptual, cognitive, and histological findings ultimately manifest themselves as variations of the same signal-processing problem of defective compression. The Savant Hypothesis is formulated from first principles of both mathematical signal-processing and primary neuroscience to reflect the failure of compression. The Savant Hypothesis is applied to the problem of autism in a surprisingly straightforward application. The enigma of the autistic savant becomes intuitive when observed from this approach.