Autistic genius?

摘要

We tend to see only the whole ― it takes insights from abnormal minds to appreciate how the brain assembles the parts. So could studies of autism reveal insights into creativity? It seems unlikely. The classical portrait of autism includes low intelligence, significant learning disabilities, memory by rote, literal-ness and a rigid insistence on sameness. Even autistic savants, known for their extraordinary mental feats, are not creative. Rather, they adopt a form of mimicry, probably due to privileged access to non-conscious processes. Beate Hermelin, an expert on autism, says that no savant will discover a new mathematical theorem, initiate a novel stylistic movement, or render a revealing interpretation of a Beethoven piano sonata.