3. ENGLISH DISCOVERY SGK
HIDDEN TALENTS
(I) Despite some recent advances, there is still a great deal about the human brain that remains a mystery. (II) We know it is made up of about 100 billion nerve cells, called neurons, connected like wires in a giant telephone exchange. We know messages pass down them like electrical signals and jump from one neuron to the next when chemicals known as neurotransmitters are released. (III) But what we don't fully understand are things like consciousness, intelligence and creativity. (IV)
Much of our knowledge comes from studying brain functions when things go wrong. There are some fascinating cases of where a bang on the head has brought about changes in personality or caused a person to become talented in a way, they weren't at all before the injury.
A famous case was Jason Padgett, a furniture salesman from Washington, who was mugged by two men after leaving a karaoke bar. He survived the attack, but was left unconscious. Soon afterwards, he noticed that his vision had changed. He also realised that he had developed remarkable mathematical abilities. Padgett began to see patterns in everything he looked at, and to draw complex geometric figures. He seemed to understand the mathematical nature of the universe despite the fact that he had little formal academic training. The man who had barely scraped through his school exams ended up pursuing a career in mathematics as a number theorist.
Another example of this syndrome is twenty-four-year-old Ben McMahon from Australia, who fell into a coma after a car crash. A week later, he woke up speaking Mandarin Chinese. He had studied Chinese at school, but had never been fluent until the accident. McMahon works now as a Chinese-speaking tour guide in Australia.
Orlando Serrell suffered a head injury when he was knocked out in a baseball game at the age of ten. When he regained consciousness, he felt OK and finished the game. After a year, he realised he had acquired extraordinary memory skills and could recall the day of the week of any given date. He has never made a mistake. For instance, ask him about 11 February 1983 and he says 'Friday. It was raining that day. I had a pizza - pepperoni sausage.'
There is no single theory to explain each case, but many researchers believe that acquired savant syndrome happens when the right side of the brain compensates for an injury to the left side. The condition is rare fewer than one hundred cases have been identified. Some of us are athletic, some of us mathematical, some of us artistic, and others musical; some of us are just good, while some are exceptional. The challenge is how to access that hidden knowledge and skill without experiencing a bang on the head.
(Adapted from English Discovery 12)
