Calendrical savants: exceptionality and practice
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Multimedia Battery for Assessment of Cognitive and Basic Skills in Mathematics (BM-PROMA)
Published on: August 28, 2021
Richard Cowan1, Daniel P J Carney
1Institute of Education, University of London, London WC1H0AA, UK. r.cowan@ioe.ac.uk
Abstract:
The exceptionality of the skills of calendrical savants and the role of practice were investigated. Experiment 1 compared four autistic calendrical savants to Professor Conway, a distinguished mathematician with calendrical skills. Professor Conway answered questions over a greater range of years but some savants knew more calendrical regularities. Experiment 2 studied the development of a calendrical savant's ability to answer date questions for very remote future years. He started by making written calculations and progressed to mental calculation. His variation in response time for remote dates was similar to that for near dates. The findings are consistent with the view that calendrical savants develop their skills through practice.
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