Savant syndrome
Savant syndrome is a condition in which a person with a mental disability, such as an autism spectrum disorder, demonstrates profound and prodigious capacities or abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal.[1][2][3] People with savant syndrome may have neurodevelopmental disorders, notably autism spectrum disorders, or brain injuries. The most dramatic examples of savant syndrome occur in individuals who score very low on IQ tests, but not always. In some very rare and extreme cases, some people with savant actually had an average to even a higher IQ while demonstrating exceptional skills or brilliance in specific areas, such as rapid calculation, art, memory, or musical ability.[4][5][6][7] In spite of the name "syndrome", it is not recognized as a mental disorder nor as part of mental disorder in medical manuals such as the ICD-10[8] or the DSM-V.[9] Characteristics[edit]
15 styles of Distorted Thinking
15 styles of Distorted Thinking Filtering: You take the negative details and magnify them while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation. Polarized Thinking: Things are black or white, good or bad. You have to be perfect or you're a failure. There is no middle ground. Overgeneralization: You come to a general conclusion based on a single incident or piece of evidence.
psychologists aim to help computers understand you better
By Brooke Donald L.A. Cicero Noah Goodman, right, and Michael Frank, both assistant professors of psychology, discuss their research at the white board that covers the wall in Goodman's office.
Theory of Mind
Theory of Mind is the branch of cognitive science that investigates how we ascribe mental states to other persons and how we use the states to explain and predict the actions of those other persons. More accurately, it is the branch that investigates mindreading or mentalizing or mentalistic abilities. These skills are shared by almost all human beings beyond early childhood. They are used to treat other agents as the bearers of unobservable psychological states and processes, and to anticipate and explain the agents’ behavior in terms of such states and processes. These mentalistic abilities are also called “folk psychology” by philosophers, and “naïve psychology” and “intuitive psychology” by cognitive scientists.
10 Most Fascinating Savants in the World
Sometimes the most amazing abilities of the human brain are revealed exactly when things go wrong with it. Take, for example, savants - people who have mental abilities that could only be characterized as superhuman (like having photographic memory, playing music perfectly after hearing it just once, or doing complex mathematical calculations in one's head) but otherwise severely disabled in every day cognitive functions and social interaction. Does the human brain have latent savant-like abilities? Does our higher cognitive functions somehow block these abilities, and why? And can we have savant-like abilities without the accompanying autism and/or developmental disabilities? One intriguing study by Dr.
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How is theory of mind useful? Perhaps to enable social pretend play
It is often claimed that theory of mind (ToM) is facilitated by pretend play (PP), or by a particular type of PP, social pretend play (SPP). Here we challenge that view, proposing instead that ToM might be useful for driving SPP, rather than the reverse. We discuss background theory, review pertinent studies, and explain why the “ToM first” view is at least equally likely. The first form of pretend to consider is solitary PP, emerging at 12–18 months, in which one engages in three basic types of transformation: substitutes one object for another, projects imaginary characteristics onto objects, and imagines situations that do not exist (Leslie, 1987).
The Rain Man's Disorder: Savant Syndrome
The 1988 movie Rain Man introduced people to a rare but amazing disorder called savant syndrome. In the movie, Dustin Hoffman sensitively portrays the character Raymond Babbitt, who has autistic disorder. When Raymond's brother, Charlie, comes to visit, he discovers that Raymond also has an astounding memory for baseball statistics, the phone book, and the ability to count cards in Las Vegas.
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Theory of mind - an overview
“Theory of Mind”: Empathy “Theory of mind” is the ability of an individual to infer the feelings, motives, opinions, and emotions of another on the basis of that other’s expressions, however fragmentary or incomplete these may be. It is an indispensable ability for meaningful social interaction.
Critical Thinking and Emotional Intelligence
In addition to Goleman’s lack of sensitivity to the brain-to-mind translation problem, and his failure to acknowledge that we already know much about the mind through its works and constructs, Goleman’s work is often inconsistent and sometimes incoherent. Let us look at some cases. Two Brains Equals Two Minds Because Goleman’s “theory” of mind is based strictly on his interpretations of data from brain research, he comes to some questionable conclusions about the mind. For example, he states, “sensory signals from eye or ear travel first in the brain to the thalamus and then — across a single synapse — to the amygdala; a second signal from the thalamus is routed to the neocortex — the thinking brain. This branching allows the amygdala to begin to respond before the neocortex, which mulls information through several levels of brain circuits before it fully perceives and finally initiates its more finely tailored response (p. 17).”
