Neurobiology: Rain Man's revelations
NIELS BIRBAUMER
Abstract: In the film Rain Man, an autistic savant multiplied
huge numbers with lightening speed. Other savants are extraordinarily
talented at drawing or remembering things. How do they do this?
A new study indicates that they access the 'preconscious', low-level
stages of mental processing. Not only that, but we all may have
the innate ability to perform these feats if we could only tap
into this level of processing.
This item appeared in
Nature v399: no 6733 p211 (20 May 1999)
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