Acquired math ability-- geometry expert after concussion

[warwick]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...n_5273609.html

In 2002, two men savagely attacked Jason Padgett outside a karaoke bar, leaving him with a severe concussion and post-traumatic stress disorder. But the incident also turned Padgett into a mathematical genius who sees the world through the lens of geometry.

Padgett, a furniture salesman from Tacoma, Washington, who had very little interest in academics, developed the ability to visualize complex mathematical objects and physics concepts intuitively.

The thought here appears to be that the brain injury unmasked a latent geometry ability in this person (very rare outcome of course). Thus far there are only about 45 cases in which a brain injury resulted in a savant ability.

[warwick]

Quote:

"More info here:
http://www.brogaardlab.com/research/...sia-savantism/

"Despite his lack of prior training, Jason is the only person in the world to have ever hand-drawn meticulously accurate approximations of mathematical fractals using only straight lines. He can predict the vectors for prime numbers in his drawings (see Fig. 1), and his drawing of hf = mc2, which contains all the style elements of his earliest drawings, is remarkably similar to an actual picture of electron interference patterns, which he found years after first drawing the pattern (see Figs. 2, 3). Like other individuals with savant syndrome and highly specialized artistic skills, Jason reached top scores on spatial ability tests, a standard component of many IQ tests, after the incident.""

[MikeWhalen]

glad my mom did'nt see this when I was a kid, she woulda brought out the ball pean hammer to get those math marks up!

Mike

[warwick]

other cases of this type: http://www.popsci.com/science/articl...-genius-within

"acquired savant syndrome." In the 30 or so known cases, ordinary people who suffer brain trauma suddenly develop almost-superhuman new abilities: artistic brilliance, mathematical mastery, photographic memory.