11 - Memory characteristics in individuals with savant skills

Summary

Introduction

In this chapter it is argued that memory performance provides a coherent picture of savant abilities, even though the talents displayed make different demands on memory and learning. The chapter opens with an introduction to savant talent, to issues in relation to domain-specificity and modularity, as well as the role of practice and implicit memory. These topics have been picked out because of their relevance to memory and also because of associations with autism. Three sections then follow which focus on savant memory performance amongst numerical and calendar calculators, musicians and artists, where the evidence from empirical studies is placed in the context of the issues raised in the Introduction. Finally, a theoretical interpretation is presented which, it is argued, provides a convincing account of the development of savant abilities.

Savant talent

Savants are often individuals of low general intelligence who nonetheless show outstanding capacity in a specific and often restricted domain, such as musical ability (e.g. Miller, 1989; Sloboda, Hermelin & O'Connor, 1985; Young & Nettlebeck, 1994), linguistic ability (Dowker, Hermelin & Pring, 1996; Smith & Tsimpli, 1991), calendar calculation (giving the correct day of the week that corresponds to a particular date) (Heavey, Pring & Hermelin, 1999), arithmetical calculation (Anderson, O'Connor & Hermelin, 1999), or drawing ability (e.g. Pring & Hermelin, 1997; Selfe, 1977). The majority of savants have a diagnosis of autism or Asperger syndrome, or show significant autistic-like features, together sometimes referred to as autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs).