October• 2018 | 27READER’S DIGESTWithin days of his injury, Amato
begansearchingtheinternetforan
explanation, typing in terms such as
giftedandhead trauma.Hefoundthe
nameDrDaroldTreffert,anexpert
on savant syndrome, a condition in
which individuals who are typically
mentally impaired demonstrate
remarkable skills. Amatoired of an
email;soonhehadanswers.DrTref-
fert diagnosed Amato with acquired
savant syndrome. In the 90 or so
knowncases,ordinarypeoplewho’d
sufered brain trauma suddenly de-
velopedwhatseemedlikealmost
superhuman new abilities: artisticbrilliance, mathematical mastery,
photographic memory. Dr Treffert
believes that our brains come with
awidearrayof‘factoryinstalled’
software – latent abilities that exist
butwesometimesdon’thaveaccess
to.Theexactnatureofanacquired
savant’s emergent abilities depends
on the exact location of the injury.
That explains the wide variation
in both the range of abilities found
in different individuals and their
manifestations.F
OR JASON PADGETT,afuton
salesman,aheadinjuryre-
sulted in uncommon mathe-
maticalabilities.Padgettsufereda
severe concussion after two men at-
tacked him outside a karaoke bar in
2002.Whenhewokeup,hesawpix-
elated patterns every where – in water
spiralling down the drain, in sunlight
iltering through the leaves of trees.
Inhishighschooldays,Padgetthad
beenaweightlifterandparty-goer
whocheatedonmathstestsand
hadlittleinterestinacademics.But
afterhisaccident,hebegansketch-
ing intricate geometrical drawings,
attempting to capture what he saw.
Padgettdidnotunderstandtheir
significance until a physicist hap-
penedtocatchaglimpseofoneof
his sketches. He recognised them
ashighlysophisticatedvisualrep-
resentations of complex mathemati-
cal relationships and urged Padgett
PHOTO: REBA MCCONNELL to enrol in maths classes. Today,
Name:DEREK AMATO
Discovered Talent:PIANO
Some scientists believe that
Amato’smusicalskillisevidence
that untapped potential lies in
everyone, accessible with the
right tools