In the dark basement of our brain, which is called the unconscious, is stored everything that we have ever seen, heard, smelled.
The kitchen of our brain is designed in such a way that everything that we have ever seen, heard, smelled, and so on is stored in its dark basement, which is called the unconscious. Even if at the moment of perception we did not pay attention to it. Taking the necessary products-memories from the “basement”, we process them with logic, filter with morality, fry with emotions - and as a result we get our own thought. An excellent system, works great, but with one significant drawback: the supply from the "basement" of memory is very poorly organized. Now we cannot remember the right word, then we cannot get rid of the annoying song that has become attached.
It turns out that there are people who are able to enter their "basement" like a brightly lit workshop, take what they need and use it brilliantly. And when such an amazing ability is called "unlimited memory", it is not too much of an exaggeration.
They have always been. And they always had no place in life. They were considered feeble-minded, unfit for anything, they were simply not paid attention to. It is not surprising that it was only in 1789 that they were first described by the American scientist Benjamin Rush. And only a century later, in 1887, Dr. John Down, who studied people with mental disorders, subjected them to a serious examination. He called them idiot savant, "idiots who can learn." It soon became clear that they were not idiots at all. It was only necessary to establish contact with them in order to discover their amazing abilities. And above all - an amazing memory.
They are able to remember everything. Sometimes it seems meaningless, sometimes full of mystical meaning, but it always evokes amazement and … envy.
Although there is still nothing to envy: the syndrome of savants is a disease, severe, almost incurable and very little studied. Their mental deficiency is sometimes no less striking than their talents. For example, some of them may not hesitate to determine the time, while they do not know how to use the clock. And those who, without any tools, are able to determine the distance with the highest accuracy, often do not know what to do with the ruler.
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A century ago, researchers discovered that savant syndrome was associated with significant damage to the left brain hemisphere. The causes of their occurrence can be either congenital anomalies, or diseases of the central nervous system, or head trauma. At the same time, an adaptation theory of savantism was proposed, built on an analogy with blindness. The lack of vision is compensated by the activation of other brain regions, which leads to an increase in hearing and touch. It was natural to assume that turning off the left hemisphere in the same way should cause increased work of the right, which explains all the symptoms of savant syndrome. However, everything turned out to be more complicated. There were more differences in analogy than similarities.
Auditory information can actually replace visual information. But the work of the right hemisphere of the brain does nothing to compensate for the missing functions of the left hemisphere. Using the comparison accepted at the beginning, we can say that without water, you can quench your thirst with milk or juice, but not with steak.
In patients with savantism and blind from birth, the analogy is quite acceptable. But in adults who became savants due to injuries, and people who have lost their sight, the difference was very noticeable: the "islands of genius" in savants were activated much faster than the sensitivity and hearing of the blind increased. It became clear that various mechanisms are at work here. In addition, as it turned out, not the entire right hemisphere was included in the tense regime, but individual sections … In a word, the savants still remain a mystery.
ALL THEY ARE TALENTS
The results they achieve in various activities are truly amazing.
Music
Savants are excellent performers, with very subtle nuances, most often playing the piano, but some brilliantly master many other instruments, sometimes up to twenty. Many of them compose music without instruments, directly writing notes on paper. Some savants are able to memorize large symphonic works from the first listening and play them right there.
The famous Japanese writer, Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe had a son, a savant. He could hardly see, barely spoke, almost did not move, but his hearing was absolute. Parents gave him the opportunity to learn to play the piano, to study composition. Today, Hikari Oe is one of the best Japanese symphonists.
art
They are excellent draftsmen, painters and sculptors. The world famous Scottish artist Richard Vower was born a savant, almost blind, and could not speak until the age of 11. He painted most often from memory, preferring pastels, creating landscapes surprisingly rich in color. More than 100 exhibitions of his work have been held around the world. His paintings were acquired by Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II in their collections.
Maths
First of all, lightning-fast calculations, for example, the ability to identify multi-digit primes. However, other mathematical abilities may be absent.
Englishman Daniel Tammet from childhood "saw" the interaction of numbers as a kind of cartoons with landscapes and dramas. Each number for him had its own appearance, silhouette, color, smell. The number 289 was extremely unpleasant to him, and 333 seemed cute, the one emitted a bright white light, and 89 looked like falling snow. His passion for mathematics did not interfere with his love of languages. He is a true polyglot, fluent in many languages. Moreover, he learned Icelandic in a week, having accepted the challenge of the TV show host.
Programming
The relationship to numbers is likely to have something to do with binary thinking. Some savants are great programmers.
Sarah Miller, 42, is the president of Nova Systems. She is able to catch an error in a program by taking a quick look at the program code.
Spatial skills
They are able to accurately measure distances without tools, construct complex models or structures with painstaking precision, and excel in cartography and direction finding.
James Pallen was born in London, deaf, almost dumb and mentally handicapped. By the age of 7 he barely spoke "mom". From childhood he carved boats, then he became an outstanding carpenter and cabinetmaker. He made his own instruments. Pallen's main masterpiece is the model ship "Trait Eastern". He worked on the ship for 7 years, carving all the details, including 5,585 rivets, 13 boats and miniature furniture for the saloons.
WILL THEY HELP CHANGE THE WORLD?
Not so long ago, it was discovered that the so-called "genius zone" in the left temporal lobe is constantly working in savants. She sleeps with ordinary people. Attempts to awaken her with repetitive electromagnetic stimulation have not yet yielded reliable results. But if such an impact succeeds, then it is quite possible that everyone who wishes will be able to gain the memory and abilities of savants without the unwanted symptoms of savantism. How much this will change the state of science, art, the standard of living - it is even impossible to imagine. It only remains to unravel their mystery.
Dubinina Tamara