“Kim peek: a real Rainman”
who is Kim Peek?
He is a real-life ‘Rain Man’.
A central character in the movie by the same name portrayed by Dustin Hoffman is based on none other than Kim Peek himself, who is coronated with the title of “mega savant”.
A savant is someone with extraordinary qualities, often associated with cognitive abilities, and they are often gifted with photographic memory. Their memory is similar to that of a camera; whatever they see is permanently stored in their memory. Such was the case with Kim Peek.
Kim Peek had a photographic memory, able to recall every word, picture, map, or any other information he had witnessed in his life.
An interesting anecdote that demonstrates his remarkable memory capacity is related to the title of ‘Hafiz,’ given to a Muslim who has memorized the entire Quran.
A person with a decent memory and a willingness to dedicate sufficient time to learning can achieve this title within a year.
However, Kim Peek’s case was astounding. He completed the Quran in just 6 minutes, earning him the title of Hafiz almost effortlessly.
Isn’t it amazing? Of course, it is.
He could read two pages of a book at a time, made possible because his left eye and right eye could focus on two different places simultaneously.
What he read was never forgotten and could be recalled almost in its entirety.
Truly amazing, out of this world!
How was he blessed with these abilities? I was eager to dig deeper.
The reasons behind his extraordinary ability are quite interesting.
“We, normal humans, have two types of memory:
short-term memory and long-term memory.
If I listen to or see something for the first time, it will be stored in my short-term memory.
However, if I connect this new information with something I already know, or if I continue using that information repeatedly, it becomes long-term memory.”
Delving deeper into the technicalities,
our brain is divided into two hemispheres: left and right.
These hemispheres are connected by a tissue named the CORPUS CALLOSUM, which is responsible for transferring short-term memory into long-term memory.
This brief understanding of the brain’s anatomy will serve our purpose.
In the case of Kim Peek, however, he did not have a typical CORPUS CALLOSUM in its place.
Instead, it was distributed all over his brain.
Consequently, in his case, there was no distinction between short-term and long-term memory. Since the bridge between these realms was absent, everything he read or saw was transferred directly to long-term memory.
To accommodate his vast memory, he had a much larger cerebrum, the part of the brain associated with memory, reasoning, logic, and other cognitive attributes that we possess.
However, this came at a cost.
The enlarged cerebrum had occupied most of his cranium, leaving no room for the cerebellum, the part of the brain associated with muscle movement and coordination.
Kim Peek’s cerebellum was underdeveloped.
What does this imply?
It means that he was unable to perform his daily activities, such as brushing his teeth, putting on or taking off his clothes, or even eating his meals by himself. His father assisted him in all these mundane activities.
He was all about memory, like a hard disk storing trillions of pieces of information but unable to make anything meaningful out of it.
When his IQ was measured, it was around 87, which is considered below average. It was challenging for him to socialize, understand metaphoric language, or interpret contexts beyond their literal meanings. If you asked him about a phrase like ‘a child is the father of man,’ he would regard it as a false statement. For him, developing concepts that we take for granted was impossible.
These limitations constrained his abilities.
His father, who took care of him, even went on to say, ‘I wish he had died before me so that he wouldn’t have to face any hardships in my absence.’
These words made my heart sink.
A real-life superstar, a man whose life became the subject of a biopic and a blockbuster, had these struggles in his life.
I recalled how many times I had prayed to God, ‘please make me like Kim Peek.’ However, after learning the reality, I became content with myself.
Every individual is bestowed with different strengths and weaknesses. It’s my personal asset, and I need to be proud of it. So, I gave up berating my memory from that day onward.
Kim died on December 19, 2009, at the age of 58 due to a heart attack, and his father passed away on April 5, 2014, at the age of 88, 5 years after Kim’s death.”
