{"id":7526,"date":"2016-03-26T23:48:16","date_gmt":"2016-03-27T03:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/?p=7526"},"modified":"2016-03-27T00:02:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-27T04:02:07","slug":"savant-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/2016\/03\/26\/savant-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Savant Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"kimandbrain\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The award-winning movie \u201cRain Man\u201d tells a story about a car dealer and his autistic brother, Raymond, who go on a life-changing, cross-country trip. The character Raymond from this popular movie was inspired by Kim Peek, a savant in real life. Savant Syndrome is a condition in which someone with a mental disability demonstrates profound and exceptional abilities beyond what is considered normal, and it is incredibly rare. In fact, there are currently fewer than 50 savants existing in the world. Although savant syndrome is commonly associated with autism, such as in \u201cRain Man,\u201d many savants are not autistic and most people with autism are not savants.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Kim Peek, or \u201cRain man,\u201d suffered from FG syndrome, a genetic condition that affects intelligence and behavior. He also lacked a corpus callosum, which is the bundle of nerve fibers connecting the two hemispheres of the brain, and was born with macrocephaly\u2014a condition in which the brain is enlarged. Due to these brain abnormalities, Kim developed many special abilities, such as an astounding memory and advanced mental calculation and speed-reading skills. Kim was able to read both pages of a book simultaneously while retaining 98 percent of the information. On the other hand, Kim also had difficulties with many tasks, such as logistical math problems, following certain directions, and reduced physical coordination.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in finding out more on this topic, this documentary<\/span><\/a> gives a more in-depth look into Kim Peek\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

~Sophia Hon<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

FG Syndrome<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Kim Peek, Inspiration for \u2018Rain Man,\u2019 Dies at 58<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Kim Peek, The Real Rain Man<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Somers’s Lectures<\/p>\n

Image Source:<\/p>\n

Wisconsin Medical Society<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The award-winning movie \u201cRain Man\u201d tells a story about a car dealer and his autistic brother, Raymond, who go on a life-changing, cross-country trip. The character Raymond from this popular movie was inspired by Kim Peek, a savant in real life. Savant Syndrome is a condition in which someone with a mental disability demonstrates profound […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9559,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7526"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7530,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7526\/revisions\/7530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ombs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}