28 | October• 2018THE AMAZING SCIENCE OF INSTANT SAVANTSelderly people with Alzheimer’s dis-
easeandotherformsofdementia.
Onedayinthemid-1990s,DrMiller
spokewiththesonofapatientwho
saidhisfatherhaddevelopedaixa-
tion with painting. Even stranger, as
hisfather’ssymptomsworsened,the
mansaid,hisfather’spaintingsim-
proved.DrMillerwasdubiousuntil
the son sent him some examples.he
work, Dr Miller recalls, was brilliant.
“heuseofcolourwasstriking,”he
says. “He had an obsession with yel-
low and purple.” Soon the patient,Padgettisoneofthefewpeopleca-
pable of drawing fractals (repeating
patternsthatstartsimplyandget
progressively complex).
Orlando Serrell was hit on the left
sideofhisheadbyabaseballwhen
hewastenandsoonafterrealised
hecouldrememberpreciselywhat
hewasdoingandwhattheweather
conditions were on any given day go-
ingbackyears.
As a young child, Alonzo Clemons
sufferedaseverebraintraumafol-
lowing a bad fall. He then developed
aremarkableability:aftercatch-
ingjustaglimpseofananimalon
television,hewasabletosculptan
accurate3Dmodelofit.Hislifelike
animal sculptures have earned him
worldwide renown.
Many acquired savants also have
negative symptoms. Clemons never
recoveredfromhisaccident.Today,
he sufers from a developmental dis-
abilityandhasanIQinthe40to50
range. Padgett developed symptoms
of obsessive-compulsive disorder:
he found himself washing his hands
20timesinanhour.Evenso,these
individuals speak of their new abil-
itieswithwonder.
Howisitthatabumponthehead
cansuddenlyunleashthemuse?And
what does it mean for the rest of us?D
RBRUCEMILLER,who
directs the University of
California San Francisco
Memory and Aging Center, treatsName:JASON PADGETT
Discovered Talent:MATHS
Following his injuries, Padgett,
whohadn’tprogressedbeyond
pre-algebrainhighschool,
became one of the few people
in the world able to draw
complex geometric patterns
called fractals