The human brain has a very complex and mysterious structure, and this is no accident - after all, it controls the work of all organs and systems. And even a short-term shutdown of brain activity is fraught with dire consequences. For example, if a person falls into a coma and is in this state for several days, this will certainly affect his mental and physical health. But there are also very mysterious cases when, after a head injury or after coming out of a coma, people acquire outstanding abilities unusual for them.
This phenomenon is called "savant syndrome". This happens extremely rarely, and in official medicine hardly two dozen such cases have been documented.
A relatively recent case of savantism was recorded in 22-year-old Australian Ben McMahon, who was in a car accident in 2012. Having regained consciousness, the young man spoke in the purest Chinese, but could not remember his native English. True, after a couple of days, Ben began to speak English, but he still spoke Chinese well.
The acquired ability helped the Australian to get a job as a guide in a travel company, where he conducted excursions in his native Melbourne for groups of tourists from China. Ben later went to Shanghai and entered a commercial university. The amazing case with an Australian is far from the first. Sandra Ralic, a 13-year-old girl from Croatia, spoke German after being in a coma for 24 hours.
And the American Michael Boatwright, waking up, began to speak Swedish. Moreover, he claimed that his name was Johan Ek. In fairness, it must be said that all of the above people have either studied these languages before (without much success), or were familiar with them.
For example, before the accident, Ben studied Chinese at school, but could not express himself fluently in it. And Michael Boatwright once lived in Sweden. Most likely, in some way a coma or trauma contributed to the fact that the parts of the brain, where previously "passively" information about other languages was stored, were suddenly activated, and the "files" from the unconscious zone were processed by consciousness at an accelerated rate.
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The person who sees with formulas
Sometimes, as a result of head injuries, a person exhibits aptitude for the exact sciences. For example, Jason Pagett from Washington worked as a furniture salesman and enjoyed spending his free time in bars. In 2002, he was severely beaten, and after an injury and a serious concussion, this man began to see the world in the form of mathematical formulas and three-dimensional geometric objects.
The doctors recommended that Jason develop his new abilities, and he sat down to number theory. Neurophysiologists became interested in the abilities of the newly-minted mathematician, and after the examination, Jason was given the verdict: "mathematical synesthesia."
Synesthesia is the ability of one organ to perceive sensations atypical for it. For example, people - synesthetics are characterized by the perception of one or another number or letter in a certain color scheme. Jason "sees" the formulas. According to one of the professors who examined Pagett, this could happen for the following reason: during the death of brain neurons, molecules of so-called signaling substances are released. As a result, neurons in the surrounding areas increase their activity, that is, they take on work that is unusual for them.
Unexpected talents
The state of clinical death lasts only a few minutes, and every second can play a fatal role. After five minutes of being in this state, the brain damage is irreversible, and the person becomes disabled. However, Alexander Volchenko, an entrepreneur from Volgograd, was doubly lucky. He came out of a state of clinical death with a new talent - Alexander began to play the piano, write songs and music, and in English.
The cause of clinical death was a seemingly innocent joke of friends - they added anti-hangover to Alexandra to see what happened. As a result, the man almost said goodbye to life. However, the day after the incident, Alexander felt an irresistible craving for music and writing, and this is how it all began.
According to the newly-minted bard, earlier he could say only a couple of words in English, but did not play the piano at all. For two years, the self-taught musician wrote about 200 songs, and became a famous singer in the city. Not only Alexander's interests have changed, but also his appearance. The man lost almost 30kg and changed his image.
Another similar incident occurred with the Kiev resident Andrey Chernov. After a car accident (serious head injury), a 28-year-old young man took up his brush. As if on a whim, Andrey drew canvases, tried various painting techniques. Moreover, sometimes the painter painted pictures and did not see the images and figures hidden on them, his friends and relatives later pointed to them. Experienced artists doubted that a person with no experience could draw such pictures. Now Andrey's works can be seen at the exhibition in the "Nef" gallery.
Perhaps some substances, when taken by mouth, can awaken extraordinary talents. This effect was produced by a new drug developed for people with brain injuries. An Englishman named Curtis was seriously injured in an accident, doctors discovered he had a hemorrhage and he did not regain consciousness. After the guy was injected with a new medicine, he came to his senses, but only spoke French. Moreover, Curtis was sure that he was an actor McConaughey. True, the Briton soon came to his senses, but clearly no one expected such a side effect from the drug.
Was heterosexual - became gay
Sometimes head injuries can lead to several unexpected effects. In particular, 26-year-old Chris Birch from South Wales suffered a head injury while playing rugby in 2011. Coming out of the coma, Chris clearly realized that he was attracted to men. He broke up with his girlfriend and began to live with a boyfriend. The former rugby player, and now a hairdresser, associates his reorientation with injury.
The story of Chris became interested in Kazi Rahman, a doctor at a hospital in London. Rahman has been studying neurological differences in people with different sexual orientations. He determined that the brain of people with a normal orientation has a slightly different structure.
Chris's examination revealed that he is only half gay. According to Dr. Rahman, human sexuality is an innate quality, but sometimes certain preferences are manifested in a person rather late. Strokes and brain injury can throw dormant thoughts and feelings into consciousness, and then a person can change their orientation preferences.
But there are also the opposite situations. Neuropsychologist Susad Javad described one case from his practice when, after a stroke, a gay man became heterosexual.
Savant syndrome can be manifested by phenomenal memory, the most complex calculations in the "mind", the ability to draw an accurate map of the area after a single viewing, heightened sense of smell.
However, nothing is given just like that, and often the extraordinary abilities of the water area are compensated by the shortcomings of the work of other areas. And therefore, people-savants often have difficulties in communication and psycho-emotional disorders.