Chapter 11 - Prodigies and Savants

Summary

Prodigies may be examples of extreme high intelligence, while savants may be examples of extreme low intelligence. There is relative consensus on how to define a savant but less agreement on the definition of a child prodigy. There have been a small number of more interpretive or theoretical efforts to comprehend and make sense of the prodigy phenomenon. With the availability of powerful imaging techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and others, prodigy cases shed light on some of the enduring issues in the study of intelligence. There have been advances in two areas that bear directly on savants and intelligence. One of these is of general interest and deals with all savants; this work shows that assumed constraints on IQ and other capabilities do not always hold for savants, that there is more diversity and greater plasticity in savant development than was previously believed.