MINDRAMP PODCASTS

BRAIN HEALTH: The Wonders of the Savant Brain

Michael C Patterson Season 2 Episode 3

Savant brains are severely compromised. Yet some savants have, as neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran says, "islands of astonishing talent." A few such savants have astonishing musical talents. Others show an awesome ability to replicate what they on paper. Others have amazing mathematical skills. 

I recently wrote about Savants in the most current edition of 3rd Act Magazine. I explored a set of hyper-activated abilities that seem to explain how savants achieve their super-powers. The list of hyper-skills (suggested by Alan Snyder of the Brain & Mind Centre at the University of Sydney) are all skills possessed by the average human brain. In the article, I suggest that cultivating these set of skills might help those of us with "normal" brains to ramp up our cognitive performance. 

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