Savant-like numerosity skills revealed in normal people by magnetic pulses

Allan Snyder; Homayoun Bahramali; Tobias Hawker; D. John Mitchell

doi:10.1068/p5539

Savant-like numerosity skills revealed in normal people by magnetic pulses

Allan Snyder^*, Homayoun Bahramali, Tobias Hawker, D. John Mitchell

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

64 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Oliver Sacks observed autistic twins who instantly guessed the exact number of match-sticks that had just fallen on the floor, saying in unison "111". To test the suggestion that normal individuals have the capacity for savant numerosity, we temporarily simulated the savant condition in normal people by inhibiting the left anterior temporal lobe of twelve participants with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). This site has been implicated in the savant condition. Ten participants improved their ability to accurately guess the number of discrete items immediately following rTMS and, of these, eight became worse at guessing as the effects of the pulses receded. The probability of as many as eight out of twelve people doing best just after rTMS and not after sham stimulation by chance alone is less than one in one thousand.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	837-845
Number of pages	9
Journal	Perception
Volume	35
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1068/p5539
Publication status	Published - 2006

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title = "Savant-like numerosity skills revealed in normal people by magnetic pulses",

abstract = "Oliver Sacks observed autistic twins who instantly guessed the exact number of match-sticks that had just fallen on the floor, saying in unison {"}111{"}. To test the suggestion that normal individuals have the capacity for savant numerosity, we temporarily simulated the savant condition in normal people by inhibiting the left anterior temporal lobe of twelve participants with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). This site has been implicated in the savant condition. Ten participants improved their ability to accurately guess the number of discrete items immediately following rTMS and, of these, eight became worse at guessing as the effects of the pulses receded. The probability of as many as eight out of twelve people doing best just after rTMS and not after sham stimulation by chance alone is less than one in one thousand.",

author = "Allan Snyder and Homayoun Bahramali and Tobias Hawker and Mitchell, {D. John}",

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AB - Oliver Sacks observed autistic twins who instantly guessed the exact number of match-sticks that had just fallen on the floor, saying in unison "111". To test the suggestion that normal individuals have the capacity for savant numerosity, we temporarily simulated the savant condition in normal people by inhibiting the left anterior temporal lobe of twelve participants with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). This site has been implicated in the savant condition. Ten participants improved their ability to accurately guess the number of discrete items immediately following rTMS and, of these, eight became worse at guessing as the effects of the pulses receded. The probability of as many as eight out of twelve people doing best just after rTMS and not after sham stimulation by chance alone is less than one in one thousand.

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Savant-like numerosity skills revealed in normal people by magnetic pulses

Abstract

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