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Related Experiment Videos

Dysfunctional attention in autistic savants

B J Casey1, C T Gordon, G B Mannheim

  • 1Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology
|November 1, 1993
PubMed
Summary
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Individuals with savant syndrome show attention deficits, particularly in auditory detection and attention shifting. These findings support a dysfunctional attention hypothesis for savant skills.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Savant syndrome is characterized by extraordinary abilities alongside developmental disorders.
  • The underlying cognitive mechanisms, particularly attention, remain poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the dysfunctional attention hypothesis in individuals with savant skills.
  • To assess specific attentional functions including division, shifting, directing, and sustaining attention.

Main Methods:

  • Employed computerized tasks to measure various attentional abilities.
  • Compared 10 healthy men with pervasive developmental disorders and savant skills to 10 matched controls.

Main Results:

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  • Savant individuals did not differ in visual sustained attention.
  • Savant participants showed deficits in detecting rare auditory targets.
  • Savant individuals struggled with divided attention and showed slower reaction times in tasks requiring attention shifting, suggesting difficulty disengaging attention.

    • Conclusions:

    • Findings support the dysfunctional attention hypothesis for savant syndrome.
    • Deficits in orienting and overselectivity may underlie the observed attention-shifting difficulties in savants.