Islands of Genius, Essay Example

The article “Islands of Genius” by Darrold A. Treffert and Gregory L. Wallace (2004)[1] draws attention by its urgent subject matter. In the brief review of relevant researches, Heaton and Wallace (2004) aptly pointed out the unabated interest to the phenomenon of savant syndrome since the publication of “low intelligence and special abilities” by N. O’Connor and B. Hermelin in 1988 (899). The annotation appealed to “the co-occurrence of low levels of intelligence and high-level skills”, which marked a turning point in the studies of the savant (Heaton and Wallace 899). The publication of over a hundred journal articles and book chapters in English, accompanied by the inclusion of the term “savant” in general usage proves the topicality of the issue.

The article “Islands of Genius” begins straightly with the stories of artistically brilliant people suffering from savant syndrome, Leslie Lemke, Kim Peek and Richard Wawro. Each of them possesses a condition in which “particular astonishing islands of ability and brilliance … stand in jarring juxtaposition to their overall mental handicap” (Treffert and Wallace 16). Their abilities in musical improvising and composing, in creating marvelous canvases, in reciting voluminous books and instant calculating are astonishing to the average man. Moreover, these vivid illustrations give comprehensive presentation of the subject to the inexpert reader. The capacious bibliography of the authors, theoretical background, and amount of empirical studies carried out, provide reliable data. Dr. Treffert has spent more than four decades investigating savant syndrome.

To explicate the beginnings of investigation if the current phenomena, the researchers appeal to the works of Benjamin Rush and Langdon Down this appeared with the interval of one century. Examining the connection of savant syndrome and giftedness, Wallace (2008) emphasizes that the syndrome “despite its rarity, has been well documented in the medical and psychological research literatures for well over a century” (230). Many cases of individuals with mental disorders, who display remarkable skills in a particular domain, have been discussed by the specialists.

Treffert and Wallace (2004) analyze the wide range of abilities whose increase is stimulated or enabled by savant syndrome. They conclude that syndrome gives rise to presumably artistic, visual, and motor skills, like music, mathematics, art and mechanical aptitude. These non-symbolic skills “tend to be based in right hemisphere” (Treffert and Wallace 17).

The researchers dwell on some less frequent abilities, namely language ability, tactile and visual sensitivity, exhaustive knowledge in particular scientific domain, and spatial ability. They claim that “a rare savant may have extensive language ability – that is, the capacity to memorize many languages but not to understand them” (Treffert and Wallace 19). Moreover, acquisition of better language skills may cause the loss of special artistic abilities. Treffert and Wallace (2004) illustrate this interrelation by the case of Nadia, autistic girl who created remarkable drawings at the age of three; Nadia became more verbal in a school for autistic children but lost her drawing ability (22).

Heaton and Wallace (2004) express the similar concept about these rare occurrences. They refer to the case of the savant showing remarkable foreign language acquisition skills and a savant poet described in the savant literature (905). It resonates to the proved facts that savants presumably possess “memory without reckoning” which relates to the deep, recitation-oriented memory with no comprehension of the subject matter. Christensen and Treffort (2005) dedicated an article to extraordinary memory of Kim Peek, who can recite 9 000 books verbatim, can identify hundreds of classical compositions, knows all the postal codes in the U.S.A and television stations serving those areas. Kim Peek was the prototype for Raymond Babbitt, the protagonist of the movie Rain Man (1988).

In the work “Savant Skills and Giftedness”, Wallace (2008) analyzes the long-term belief in exceptional rote memory of savants. He assumes that good memory “is undoubtedly a piece of puzzle to better understanding savant performance” (232). The scientist refers to surveys proving that savant skills may comprise learned rules beyond good rote memory. According to Wallace (2008), “calendar savants have been shown to make systematic errors in their calendar calculation” and   to “have knowledge of calendar regularities, which are then used in completing calendar calculations” (232). He also illustrates the statement by skills acquisition and expression dependent on non-memory-related mental processes observed in savant musicians’ performance.

The non-cognitive or habit memory of the savants is accessed “as an automatic response to a certain stimulus rather than as a process of thinking” (Deblios and Felix 95). The peculiarity of the object of investigation hampers its total examination, because “savants cannot explain how they access the answers to mathematical problems, pick out the day of the week of a specific date two hundred years ago, or recall, note for note, complex musical pieces” (DeBlois and Felix 96).

Though the cases of savant syndrome have been much documented and debated, there is no theory explicating in what way savants produce the skills and why they do it. The authors of the article “Islands of Genius” dwell on one of the most credible hypotheses. The assumption that “some injury to the left brain causes the right brain to compensate for the loss” has been substantiated empirically for several decades (Treffert and Wallace 21). The scientists review briefly the findings of some researchers relating to the left hemisphere theory. The experiments involving pneumoencephalogram in 1975 found damages in the left hemisphere of 15 of 17 patients suffering autism; four patients had savant skills. In 1980 T.L. Brink described the case of a nine-year boy whose left hemisphere was damaged by a bullet. He acquired unusual savant mechanical skills after the accident. This case supported the theory of a significant role, which changes in the left hemisphere play to provoke the emergence of savant syndrome. Treffert and Wallace (2004) conclude that recent observations of Bernard Rimland, Norman Gerschwind, Bruce L. Miller, and Albert M. Galaburda are consonant with the stated idea.

One more aspect relevant to savant syndrome is the question of hidden or latent potential inherent in everyone. Some researchers investigate the possibility of disclosing this potential with the help of exert influence on the brain hemispheres. They attempt to create the conditions which may evoke the emergence of remarkable abilities. The experiment, conducted by T. Morrell, R. L. Young, A. Ridding and Mc. C. Ridding, applied magnetic stimulation to the area in the left temporal lobe. This influence resulted in the emergence of short-termed skills.

To resume the above mentioned, we should note that the article “Islands of Genius” by By Darold A. Treffert and Gregory L. Wallace (2004) supplies the integral approach to the phenomena of savant syndrome. It comprises the outcomes of long-termed thorough theoretical and empirical work performed by the scientists. Despite the narrow, specific subject matter of the article, the central concepts are clearly defined by the authors. The issue of savant syndrome is investigated from the standpoints of its symptoms, illustrations of savant syndrome in multiple documented cases, history of its scientific justification, hypothesis of its causes and the way of expressing the abilities. Besides these points, the scientists provide explicit theoretical framework necessary for better comprehension of the theme. The logical chain of reasoning enables straightforward comprehension. Therefore, the article addresses to a wide range of readers from psychiatrists to inexperts.

Works Cited

Christensen, Daniel D. and Treffert, Darold A. “Inside the Mind of a Savant.” Scientific American 293.6 (Dec. 2005): 108 -113. Georgia Library Learning Online. Web.10 Nov. 2010.

DeBlois, Janice, and Felix, Antonia. (2005). Some Kind of Genius: The Extraordinary Journey of Musical Savant Tony DeBlois. Rodale Books. Print.

Heaton, Pamela, and Wallace, Gregory L. “Annotation: The Savant Syndrome.” Journal of  Child Psychology and Psychiatry 45.5 (Jul.2004): 899-911. Georgia Library Learning Online. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.

Treffert, Darold A. and Wallace, Gregory L. “Islands of Genius.” Scientific American Special Edition 14.1 (Jan. 2004): 14-23. Print.

Wallace, Gregory L. “Savant Skills and Giftedness.” Roeper Review 30.4 (Oct.-Dec.2008): 229-246. Print.

[1] The article was first published in Scientific American 286.6 (Jun. 2002): 76-86. In current review we refer to the following publication: Treffert, Darold A. and Wallace, Gregory L. “Islands of Genius.” Scientific American Special Edition 14.1 (Jan. 2004): 14-23.