
Head injury causes savant syndrome - lambersley
http://canadaam.ctvnews.ca/from-math-failure-to-savant-how-a-mugging-made-a-numbers-whiz-1.1792281
======
yaddayadda
I have met one woman like this and had the opportunity to work closely with
another. In both of their cases they were in car accidents. I didn't know
either of them before their accidents, but I have multiple friends that had
known each of them for years or decades prior. In both cases they were
described as pretty average before their accidents. Since their accidents they
have both become extremely prolific readers [1] , with drastically better
memory and cognition [2], and can't sleep more than 4 hours a night if they
try.

[1] In the case of my colleague, she read everything she wanted, at which
point she read the first Dewey decimal cataloged book in the local library and
then started to read each subsequent book in progression. Less than three
years after her accident she had almost finished every book in the local
library and was already making plans to get a membership at the state's
largest library.

[2] Neither have photographic memory, but it is something eerily close; and
they make cognitive leaps that never cease to amaze me.

~~~
eurleif
Sounds like something some people would sign up for. If you compared the
injuries between multiple people with similar effects, I wonder if it would be
possible to find a way to reproduce it?

~~~
bra-ket
I see startup potential here, "Head Knock LLC"

~~~
heffo
"Algernon LTD."

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krick
Article is very cheesy and full of journalism, but whatever, nothing unusual
about it. It's something different I really don't like about that story. He's
called "genius", "mathematical marvel" and such, but I don't see any reference
to what exactly did he do to be called so, aside of self-promotion.
Telegraph.co.uk article says "He is now recognised as a leading maths
thinker." Hm. Maybe he is, but what about any references on by whom he is
"recognised"? His book title is "Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me
a Mathematical Marvel". Yeah, I know, marketing is dirty stuff, but have you
ever heard real mathematician call himself a "genius"?

Anyway, something even worse: searching for "Jason Padgett" shows many results
on some journal sites, facebook, amazon, fineartamerica.com, whatever. And
guess what? Nothing on arxiv.org! Searching for "site:arxiv.org Jason Padgett"
results are filled by works of "Deborah Padgett, Jason A. Surace" and such,
and no "Jason Padgett" on the first 2 pages! Weird, huh.

~~~
privong
> but I don't see any reference to what exactly did he do to be called so

Agreed. His experience and transformation is interesting, but the article is
pretty lacking in details.

> Searching for "site:arxiv.org Jason Padgett" results are filled by works of
> "Deborah Padgett, Jason A. Surace" and such,

Small world! Jason Surace and I are both members of a collaboration studying
galaxies which are forming stars a rates 10s to hundreds higher than "normal"
galaxies (like our own Milky Way). Just amused to see his name outside of the
normal context in which I see it. :)

~~~
sssbc
Is that the same Jason Surace who got his PhD from University of Hawaii befor
Y2K? If so, small world, few Jason Surace's.

~~~
privong
Indeed, it is!

------
X4
I have never told someone about this, but the opposite happened to me. I had
been tested because I was different than any other child of my age. And was
diagnosed with a very high IQ (you can guess how many friends I had), but
after I was attacked and hit heavily at my head by some russians without a
reason (for their pleasure), I have lost most of my ability to think as fast
as before. I was in coma for 2days at the local hospital and have no memory of
what happened, except of what friends told me. I can't explain how life
depressing that was for me, but almost 7y later, I started to gain a little in
my speed of thought. However I'll probably never be that smart again and it
feels like a big loss to me. I'm still quite talented, but nothing comparable
to before the attack.

~~~
gscott
Your experience would probably be generally the normal one for all of us. And
remember people get rich by taking normal tasks and making them better for
example Uploading files, renting apartments, driving people around, etc.

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skierscott
I speak as a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor.

I feel that a TBI _may_ have its benefits. The source article is probably a
showing of an incredibly lucky case. I know that I only have a handful of
positive side effects, and nothing "magical" like this.

But the negatives... oh man, the negatives. I would never choose to experience
the negatives again. I endured the side effects for two years and they're
incredibly frustrating. You wonder if every moment is a "brain injury moment"
and doubt yourself at every decision. It means you're wrong almost all the
time and everyone around you tells you so.

There's not much more frustrating than that. One positive that I've found is
I'm incredibly open to negative feedback: I understand and accept I am
probably wrong. I would have _much_ rather learned this a different way.

I should also note in my last neuropsychology test, I was found to have
eidetic memory, specifically the emotional memory: I remember my surroundings
when an emotional event happens. I've had this my whole life but, to be
honest, I included it.

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Mz
Ironic that people are joking in this discussion about intentionally causing
head injuries while elsewhere on HN it is being discussed how head injuries
are very common among homeless individuals (and probably partly causative of
their inability to take proper care of themselves).

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7648933](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7648933)

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mrbrowning
Padgett's cognitive transformation is real, even if the mathematically-
illiterate reporting on it obscures the nature of that transformation. Berit
Brogaard, who's a professor of philosophy and neuroscience at the University
of Missouri St. Louis, has done a lot of studies with Padgett in the course of
her work on synesthesia [1]. I haven't read any of her papers involving
Padgett myself, but people looking for a more rigorous treatment of his
condition might find something of interest in her writing.

[1] [http://www.stlmag.com/St-Louis-
Magazine/August-2013/Pieces-o...](http://www.stlmag.com/St-Louis-
Magazine/August-2013/Pieces-of-Mind-Dr-Berit-Brogaard-researches-the-weirdest-
aspects-of-the-human-brain/)

------
tzs
This was covered, along with 5 other interesting cases of people acquiring
interesting abilities after injury, in an amusing Cracked.com article [1].

One of the most interesting, and well documented, is Tony Cicoria [2]. He was
stuck by lightning, and then shortly afterwards developed an obsession with
piano music, and quickly taught himself to play and compose.

[1] [http://www.cracked.com/article_19504_6-people-who-gained-
ama...](http://www.cracked.com/article_19504_6-people-who-gained-amazing-
skills-from-brain-injuries.html)

[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Cicoria](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Cicoria)

------
gojomo
Another rare after-effect of head injuries is 'Gourmand Syndrome', where the
victim (beneficiary?) becomes obsessed with fine foods:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gourmand_syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gourmand_syndrome)

------
argumentum
Some more examples of this kind of thing:
[http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-02/when-brain-
dam...](http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-02/when-brain-damage-
unlocks-genius-within)

------
sitkack
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge)

------
oxalo
> "He said his transformation also brought a second ability: he can now draw
> the complex triangle-based geometric designs called fractals. That lets him
> translate high-level mathematical concepts like Pi and the theory of
> relativity into easy-to-understand illustrative drawings."

What?

~~~
yaddayadda
Here's his gallery at Fine Art America -
[http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/jason-
padgett.html](http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/jason-padgett.html) (aren't
search engines an amazing thing! </s> )

~~~
krick
It doesn't cancel that "what" at all. First off, this is nothing to do with
fractals. Second, these "drawings" are nothing to talk about, as their nature
is pretty primitive. That means it sure requires a steady hand (if drawn
manually), but the pattern itself is really simple (foremost because they are
very much regular). Have you ever head of spirograph? "Drawings" made by it
are far more complicated than this one and can be done in a couple of seconds
by any kid. Inventing such patterns is really simple and can be done by anyone
(me, you, I hope) and doesn't require any talent or even any significant math
knowledge.

~~~
olegkikin
Just because the images are relatively simple, doesn't mean they are stupid.

Check out this image and its meaning:

[http://www.simonsfoundation.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/09/a...](http://www.simonsfoundation.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/09/amplutihedron_span.jpg)

[http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20130917-a-jewel-
at-t...](http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20130917-a-jewel-at-the-heart-
of-quantum-physics/)

~~~
krick
This one isn't "simple". At least, not "simple" as in "simply reflecting the
beam of light at constant angle from regular polygon sides".

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lotsofmangos
Who'd have guessed that retrophrenology actually works.

~~~
gojomo
'Concussive orthophrenology' might convey more of the prestige that could get
these diruptive treatments into the top journals.

~~~
lotsofmangos
Quick, get a selection of hammers and rent a boutique while the money's still
hot. Start with the hollywood elite, then any early failures shouldn't be too
obvious.

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grimmdude
Seems like he's just trying to sell a book.

~~~
eurleif
If something remarkable happened to you, wouldn't you write a book about it?
Do you have any reason in particular to doubt his honesty?

~~~
ealdent
I suppose the implied ulterior motive would be greed. Though I have no reason
to doubt him aside from general skepticism.

