Oct 11, 2016

Do Our Brains Have Extraordinary Untapped Powers?

On 13 September, 2002, 31-year-old Jason Padgett, a furniture salesman from Washington, was beaten and mugged by two men after leaving a karaoke bar. He survived the vicious attack, but was left unconscious, and sustained a severe concussion. Soon afterwards, he noticed that his vision changed. He also realised he had developed remarkable mathematical abilities.

Padgett began to see patterns in everything he looked at, and to draw complex geometric figures, grids and fractals. “I see shapes and angles everywhere in real life,” Padgett explained later. “It’s just really beautiful.”

He seemed to understand the mathematical nature of the universe intuitively, despite the fact that, having previously dropped out of university, he had little formal academic training. He decided to return to university to study number theory.

Padgett’s is a case of acquired savant syndrome, a condition in which brain damage of some kind unlocks prodigious mental abilities. To date, fewer than 100 such cases have been identified; their existence has, however, led some researchers to argue that there is a hidden genius within all of us — and also to look for ways in which this latent potential could be unlocked.

Rain Man

Savant syndrome came into the public eye with Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of the autistic savant Raymond Babbitt in the 1988 film Rain Man. Researchers believe that at least one in 10 people with autism have some savant capability. Acquired savant syndrome is, however, extremely rare.

“I’ve been keeping track of acquired savant cases that come to my attention, and I’m up to about 70 cases now,” says psychiatrist Darold Treffert, who has been investigating savant syndrome for over 50 years. “That number is based on people who write to me, or doctors who write to me about their patients. Only about 25 of these cases have been documented in the scientific literature so far.”

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