Memory characteristics in individuals with savant skills

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Pring, Linda. 2008. Memory characteristics in individuals with savant skills. In: Jill Boucher and Dermot Bowler, eds. Memory in Autism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 210-230. ISBN 9780521862882 [Book Section]

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Abstract or Description

In this chapter it is argued that memory performance provides a coherent picture of savant abilities, even though the talents displayed make different demands on memory and learning. The chapter opens with an introduction to savant talent, to issues in relation to domain-specificity and modularity, as well as the role of practice and implicit memory. These topics have been picked out because of their relevance to memory and also because of associations with autism. Three sections then follow which focus on savant memory performance amongst numerical and calendar calculators, musicians and artists, where the evidence from empirical studies is placed in the context of the issues raised in the Introduction. Finally, a theoretical interpretation is presented which, it is argued, provides a convincing account of the development of savant abilities.

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Book Section

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Please visit the author's web page at http://www.gold.ac.uk/psychology/staff/pring/ for access to the full text.