The authors considered the inherited variants in terms of an evolutionary advantage. One of the variant linked to ASD, for example, related to the capability to develop new neurons. They found there were indeed inherited variants associated with ASD, and the occurrence was too significant to dismiss as mere chance. The study’s authors used the consortium to search for genetic variants linked to ASD that might enhance cognition. The consortium, which is based at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, involves 800 researchers who share genetic data related to psychiatric disorders. In 2017, a study in PLOS Genetics used the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium to analyze ASD as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia.
But why? Only recently have geneticists presented a possible answer. These studies demonstrate that scientists understand people with autism can have special skills that outpace the abilities of people without autism. The 2009 study also drew from an older cohort, which means they likely presented more consistently with how researchers defined autism in more narrow terms at the time. The skill becomes less noticeable as other children learn to read and catch up.
For example, some children with autism have hyperlexia, which is the ability to read early and beyond what is expected for their age. The authors argued the 2009 study’s results were lower because they only considered the skill at that moment in time, and not earlier in the participants’ lives. More than 60 percent of participants had exceptional memory, visual spatial abilities, reading, drawing, music or computation abilities. In 2015, a study in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders evaluated 254 people with autism and found a higher prevalence of special isolated skills. Profound foreign language abilities were less common. Other skills included: exceptional musicality and the ability to repeat a complex piece of music after hearing it just once superior art capabilities that enabled the person to recreate pieces that required advanced technique and phenomenal recall of historical events and dates. While many of us rely on our phone calculators at restaurants to add on a tip, the participants in this study had minds that functioned as fast as calculators. Mathematical ability was the most common skill. The study found that about a third of the male participants, and 19 percent of the female participants demonstrated savant-level or exceptional abilities in a specific area. The researchers analyzed the participants’ abilities and they also interviewed parents to understand how they described the skills in their children. The male and female study participants ranged from having “intellectual impairment” to “superior functioning,” with their mean age coming in at 24. Researchers have documented how some people with ASD also have savant level or extraordinary abilities in a specific area, also referred to as “special isolated skills.” A study from 2009 was one of the first to consider these skills, and the authors evaluated 137 people with autism. Currently, researchers believe it’s an evolutionary advantage. Scientists are learning why Tammet and other people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can have extraordinary cognitive skills. Tammet refers to himself as an autistic savant. By the end of the week, Tammet proved his fluency in an interview on an Icelandic news show. He instantly memorized words and quickly recognized grammar rules and sentence structure. In his memoir, Tammet wrote how he worked with a dictionary, flashcards and then eventually a tutor. The producers tested his abilities, and one challenge required Tammet to learn Icelandic in less than a week. In the 2005 documentary, The Boy with the Incredible Brain, producers introduced Daniel Tammet, a young British savant with tremendous cognitive skills.