'Accidental' Genius - The 'Acquired' Savant Syndrome

Pip Taylor

What could have possibly happened inside the brain of Miss Pip Taylor (pictured right), who prior to falling down a flight of stairs and hitting her head had no artistic flair then becomes good at sketching after her accident? Her story is in full here. 

Writing for the UK Daily Mail, the journalist Richard Spillett writes, "Pip Taylor, 49, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, [UK] always enjoyed art at school, but was advised against it as a profession because teachers said she didn't have the ability. But after suffering a serious concussion from falling down a flight of stairs, she has now suddenly gained the ability to draw beautiful works of art."

But Pip Taylor's story was not the very first in this instance. 

The first that stirred interest in this phenomenon is that of Jason Padgett (pictured below), school dropout who went on to become a Math genius after a blow to the back of his head.  He has since written a book about his experience. His story is in full here. 

 This human angle story thus became a huge interest which this blog decided to investigate. While writing Jason Padgett's story Victoria Lambert, a journalist with The Daily Telegraph wrote, "Being knocked unconscious might change any one of us. It might affect us physically, causing double vision or headaches, or mentally, making us fearful or even grumpy. But few could dream of the altered state Jason Padgett found himself in, after just such an injury — caused in this case by a blow to the head during a late-night mugging outside a karaoke bar in 2002. 

"For Jason, a father-of-one from Tacoma, in Washington State [US] the effect of his injury was remarkable, very rare — and strangely fortunate. From a college drop-out with dodgy hair cut interested in little more than drinking, racing and going to the gym — Jason, now 43, woke up the day after he was attacked with an extraordinary ability in mathematics and geometry."

The 'acquired' savant syndrome is what both Pip Taylor and Jason Padgett suffer. The cases are so rare it is thought that only 50 cases are recorded worldwide.

Jason Padgett

Savant syndrome is a condition in which a person with mental disability, such as autism spectrum disorder, demonstrates profound and prodigious capacities or abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal. People with savant syndrome may have neurodevelopmental disorders, notably autism spectrum disorders, or brain injuries. The most dramatic examples of savant syndrome occur in individuals who score very low on IQ tests, while demonstrating exceptional skills or brilliance in specific areas, such as rapid calculation, art, memory, or musical ability. In spite of name "syndrome", it is not recognised as a mental disorder nor as part of mental disorder in some notable medical manuals (Wikipedia).

The savant syndrome since its first description more than a century ago has remained unexplained even though the 1988 Academy-award winning film Rain Man brought international attention to the savant syndrome condition. In the movie the character, Raymond Babbitt, played by the US actor, Dustin Hoffman, is an autistic savant. While research is on-going, there is still no single theory explaining all savants.

What is the probable explanation for the acquired savant syndrome? US psychiatrist Dr Darold Treffert, MD, past-president of the Wisconsin Medical Society and a psychiatrist at St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin has studied savant syndrome for years. Dr Treffert wrote an excellent paper on this subject titled "The savant syndrome: an extraordinary condition." (Download here). He gives a short probable explanation.

Treffert thinks certain injuries cause the brain to 'rewire' itself, unlocking new abilities. In a study into the condition, he said, "What happens is that there is injury, then there is rewiring of brain signals through that intact tissue, and there there is the release of dormant potential within that brain area."

Treffert, a world-recognised expert, has really being at this for some time as this blog discovers. He has written extensively in this website here on all issues pertaining to savant syndrome.

Some neurologists believe that it is the brain's ability to bend and rewire itself, its neuroplasticity, which leads to the development of extraordinary new skills. Behavioural neurologist Bruce Miller, of the UCSF Memory and Aging Centre in San Francisco, US, however, has come up with another theory to explain the phenomenon. He believes the talents of a savant emerge when the areas damaged — those associated with logic, verbal communication, and comprehension — have inhibited latent artistic abilities already present. According to this theory, these hyperskills, such as great proficiency in music, manifest themselves as the areas of the right brain associated with creativity operate unchecked for the first time.

In this blogs neck of the woods, there is no recorded case of the acquired savant syndrome. However, there are a number of other cases recorded in the United States.

There is Tony Cicoria, an orthopaedic surgeon in upstate New York in the US who was struck by lightning while talking to his mother from a telephone booth. Cicoria would later become obsessed with classical piano and teach himself how to play and compose music.

After a bad fall at age three, Alonzo Clemons of Boulder, Colorado in the US, suffered permanent cognitive impairment and a talent for sculpting intricate replicas of animals to a life-like degree using just his hands and fingernails. 

Lachlan Connors, a teenager from Denver, Colorado in the US, who became a musical genius after hitting his head playing lacrosse. Despite being tone deaf before this accident and being unable to read music, he later taught himself how to play 13 different instruments.

Orlando Serrell, another American, at 10, found he could perfectly remember each day's weather after being hit on the head with a baseball.

Derek Amato, also an American, became a master pianist at the age of 40 after injuring himself diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool.

The neurological cause of acquired savant syndrome poorly understood. Improved brain-imaging techniques have enabled those scientists to begin to probe the unique neural mechanisms at work. Some have even begun to design experiments that investigate an intriguing possibility: genius lies in all of us, just waiting to be unleashed.

Drawing further from Victoria Lambert's interviews, Luke Griggs, a spokesman for Headway, the brain injury association, says that the process by which these new abilities are acquired remain uncharted.

"Jason Padgett's case is extremely rare,"he says. "We don't understand the exact mechanisms by which such dramatic new abilities can suddenly appear. Different parts of the brain are massively interconnected and it is possible that inhibition in one part of the brain following injusry can lead to increased activity in other areas, which can sometimes result in surprising and unexpected effects. However, it is important to remember that brain injury almost always impairs rather than enhances people."

Indeed, despite Jason's new savant status, he too has spoken about the toll his injury has exacted. While he was once outgoing, the shock of discovering his new skills made him introverted, and he started to spend all of his time at home, covering up his windows with blankets and refusing visitors. He would not even hug his own daughter until she had washed her hands.

Pip Taylor's brain does not allow her create her own images in her imagination, but she can copy objects, people and photographs perfectly. She fears she would lose her new found skills, so she obsesses.

KEEP YOUR HEAD SAFE EVERYONE!

All sources for reference are gratefully acknowledged.