It has been proven that
“approximately one in ten of persons with autistic disorder have some savant
skills” (274), which is quite spectacular. The odd thing is that savant skills
are more commonly seen in autistic people than other mental disordered people.
Why is savant skills more commonly found in autistic disorders? When answering
the previous question try and use the statement by Niki Denison on page 275 and
your own knowledge of autism to help answer the question. It is also proven
that the left hemisphere of one’s brain is the damaged one if one has savant
syndrome so shenk states, “so the brain adapts
by drawing more heavily on the right
hemisphere” (275). Shenks previous statement relates to two of the six
themes of biology, so name the two themes and explain why you believe that
those are the two themes. Also,
why is savant syndrome more common in boys than girls?
Krish Desai (kjdesai5@mac.com)
Savant skills are adaptations that the brain has made to compensate for damage that has occurred in the brain. In order to understand why savant skills are more commonly found in autistic people, it is imperative to first understand what areas of the brain are affected by autism. According to the NICHD, unlike other damage to the brain which can occur anywhere, autism primarily causes “deficits in certain aspects of attentional functioning […] and lower functioning persons with autism may also exhibit severe receptive and expressive language impairments, including mutism and a deficit in declarative memory” (http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/sos_autism/sub6.cfm). Interestingly, those areas that are affected are related to language which “the left side of the cerebrum has a dominant role” (Campbell 1077), which is located in the left hemisphere, which is “the home of language, comprehension, and logical, sequential thinking” (275). Given that savant skills rise primarily from a higher usage of the right hemisphere of the brain, savant skills would definitely be more common in autistic people because since autism affects the left hemisphere causing the right hemisphere to be more heavily drawn on.
ReplyDeleteI think Shenk’s statement relates to the biology theme of regulation and evolution. In relation to the theme of regulation, in order to ensure the body is regulated to maintain homeostasis, the brain has to adapt when other areas of the brain become impaired. For example, when autism damages the left hemisphere of the brain, the right hemisphere of the brain has to adapt in order to ensure that the functions lost from the impairment of the left hemisphere are recovered. Shenk’s statement also relates to the theme of evolution because the adaptation and high plasticity of the brain is a selective advantage that allows humans to survive and reproduce. Compared to someone with a disorder that prevents the adaptation of areas of the brain to become other areas, the ability of the brain to be able to switch to drawing on another areas of the brain which allows the recovery of functions that would of otherwise been lost with the impaired area of the brain.
It is hypothesized that savant skills, in addition to being more common in autistic people, are more common in males than females. According to Niki Denison, “excess of circulating testosterone can impair left-hemisphere development, causing nerves cells to migrate to the right hemisphere and overdevelop that part of the brain” (275). Since male fetuses are like to “testosterone reaches[sic] very high levels” (275), the testosterone would be more likely to impair the left-hemisphere, thus causing a high change of savant skills arising.
-Edward Wu (edwardwu0@gmail.com)