Do our brains have extraordinary untapped powers?
In rare cases, brain damage has unlocked prodigious mental abilities in patients. Now researchers are exploring the hidden potential in all of us
On 13 September, 2002, 31-year-old Jason Padgett, a furniture salesman from Washington, was beaten and mugged by two men after leaving a karaoke bar. He survived the vicious attack, but was left unconscious, and sustained a severe concussion. Soon afterwards, he noticed that his vision changed. He also realised he had developed remarkable mathematical abilities.
Padgett began to see patterns in everything he looked at, and to draw complex geometric figures, grids and fractals. “I see shapes and angles everywhere in real life,” Padgett explained later. “It’s just really beautiful.”
He seemed to understand the mathematical nature of the universe intuitively, despite the fact that, having previously dropped out of university, he had little formal academic training. He decided to return to university to study number theory.
Padgett’s is a case of acquired savant syndrome, a condition in which brain damage of some kind unlocks prodigious mental abilities. To date, fewer than 100 such cases have been identified; their existence has, however, led some researchers to argue that there is a hidden genius within all of us – and also to look for ways in which this latent potential could be unlocked.
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Jason Padgett Savant Syndrome
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