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. 2018 Oct 12:9:53.
doi: 10.1186/s13229-018-0237-1. eCollection 2018.

Savant syndrome has a distinct psychological profile in autism

James E A Hughes  1 , Jamie Ward  1 , Elin Gruffydd  1 , Simon Baron-Cohen  2 , Paula Smith  2 , Carrie Allison  2 , Julia Simner  1
Affiliations

Savant syndrome has a distinct psychological profile in autism

James E A Hughes et al. Mol Autism. .

Abstract

Background: Savant syndrome is a condition where prodigious talent can co-occur with developmental conditions such as autism spectrum conditions (autism). It is not yet clear why some autistic people develop savant skills while others do not.

Methods: We tested three groups of adults: autistic individuals who have savant skills, autistic individuals without savant skills, and typical controls without autism or savant syndrome. In experiment 1, we investigated the cognitive and behavioural profiles of these three groups by asking participants to complete a battery of self-report measures of sensory sensitivity, obsessional behaviours, cognitive styles, and broader autism-related traits including social communication and systemising. In experiment 2, we investigated how our three groups learned a novel savant skill-calendar calculation.

Results: Heightened sensory sensitivity, obsessional behaviours, technical/spatial abilities, and systemising were all key aspects in defining the savant profile distinct from autism alone, along with a different approach to task learning.

Conclusions: These results reveal a unique cognitive and behavioural profile in autistic adults with savant syndrome that is distinct from autistic adults without a savant skill.

Keywords: Autism spectrum conditions; Cognition; Perception; Savant syndrome; Sensory processing; Skill learning; Talent.

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Conflict of interest statement

The study was approved through the Cross-Schools Science and Technology Research Ethics Committee at the University of Sussex. Informed consent was gained from all individual participants.Not applicable.The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Savant skill categories, as presented during the savant skills questionnaire
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The profile of AQ scores by factor and group scores (error bars show SEM). Asterisks here and throughout indicate significance at *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Group differences in mean SQ-R scores (error bars show SEM)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Group differences in mean GSQ score (error bars show SEM)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The profile of SCSQ scores by factor and group (error bars show SEM)
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
The profile of LOI scores by factor and group (error bars show SEM)
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Response times for the primed and unprimed dates between groups (error bars show SEM)
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