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- What’s a Savant? A savant is a person of profound or extensive learning, a genius at something way above average.
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- How do you become a savant?
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- Well, one way is to take a severe blow to the head.
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- Really?
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- Here are some real life stories that give some truth to this idea: It all has to do with the brain. Is it smart enough to figure itself out?
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- Brain size does not determine intelligence. A cow’s brain is 100 times larger than a mouse’s brain, a grapefruit compared to a blueberry.
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- Your own brain is likely only 2% of your body weight yet it alone consumes 25% of your body’s energy. For a newborn baby, the brain is consuming 65% of the calories. The brain is miraculous and still not well understood. The brain is trying to understand itself from the outside looking in using the inside to understand what’s happening on the outside.
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- Let’s get back to the bump on the head. It is less confusing:
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- Orlando Serrell got hit in the head with a baseball when he was 10 years old. From that day on Orlando could begin telling you the exact day of the week for any date. ( I have another review that explains how you too can do this.) He could also recite the weather conditions for every day since his injury. Studies have convinced experts that his skill comes from unconscious calculating and not from memorization.
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- Jason Padzett suffered a brutal mugging in 2002. During his recover from his severe concussion he suddenly had a passion for math. He was a former college drop-out and math-averse before his injury. Now he has an obsession with studying geometric figures, fractals, and has written books on mathematics.
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- This behavior is called “ acquired savant syndrome” It could be a discovery that there is possibly an intellectual savant residing in each of us.
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- Alonzo Clemons fell and suffered a brain injury at the age of 3. The injury caused him to have a limited vocabulary and limited speech abilities. However, at the same time he acquired a unique and remarkable skill in sculpturing. He started with shortening taken from the kitchen in creating his 3-dimensional figures, mostly animals. He developed the skill to be able to look at a photograph of a horse and sculpt a 3-D replica in 30 minutes with each muscle and tendon in exacting detail.
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- Today there are 319 registered savants. 32 of these are “acquired” through concussions or strokes. Some of these stories imply that accidental genius results when a diminished activity of one brain area gets combined with a counter balancing intensification in other areas. It is like the brain trying to heal itself and it overcompensates, somehow?
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- The brain rewires itself. There are billions of neurons in the brain. Each has an elongated tail called an “axon”. the end of the axon branches out forming ‘synapses” which are contact points for the brain cells. Maybe healing creates thicker axons which can carry signals faster increasing the brains energy consumption and comprehension abilities?
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- Another theory is that our brains do not start as a blank slate that just gets inscribed with education and life experiences. The brain may come pre-loaded, inherited, having a set of innate predispositions for processing and understanding. Somehow savants tap into this inherited ability better than the average Joe.
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- So, does everyone have the capacity to become a savant? I have not yet found the key myself , and, I don’t have that much time left. I plan to sigh\n up for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ( tDCS) by sitting in front of the television to see if that works.
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- Meditation is another way I can explore my undiscovered artistic capabilities. But, I always fall asleep too soon. Somehow I need to uncover my neurobiologic underlying savantism. Here are more guys did it:
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- Tommy Mctugh was 51 when he had a brain hemorrhage in his frontal lobe. He survived and began filling notebooks with poems and art.
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- Derek Amato was 40 when he dove into a swimming pool suffering a severe concussion and hearing loss. Home from the hospital he suddenly could play the piano never having touched one before. He saw the black and white keys in his head. He now makes a living composing, performing, and recording music.
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- Tony Cicoria was an orthopedic surgeon. He was struck by lightning. He survived and remained a surgeon, but, with an all consuming obsession with classical music. He transcribed a 26 page concert piano piece called “ Fantasia, The Lightning Sonata, op1”
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- Where do these islands of genius come from?
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- Is there a “ Rain Man” residing inside each of us?
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- My brain is still trying to figure itself out. It is more complicated than I can comprehend. Stay tuned, there is more to learn. Reading my reviews will help.
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RSVP, with comments, suggestions, corrections. Index of reviews available ---
--- Some reviews are at: -------------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
---- email request for copies to: ------- jamesdetrick@comcast.net ---------
---- https://plus.google.com/u/0/ , “Jim Detrick” ----- www.facebook.com ---
---- www.twitter.com , --- 707-536-3272 ---- Friday, November 14, 2014 ---
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