The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has published the results of a study looking into gene research as it may pertain to autistic savants.  The article, published in the February 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, explains that “mice lacking a certain brain protein learn some tasks better but also forget faster.”  This research is promising with regards to explaining why autistic savants function as they do. 

“These opposite effects on different types of learning are reminiscent of the mixed features of autistic patients, who may be disabled in some cognitive areas but show enhanced abilities in others,” said Albert Y. Hung, a postdoctoral associate at the Picower Institute, staff neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-author of the study. “The superior learning ability of these mutant mice in a specific realm is reminiscent of human autistic savants.”

Autistic savants usually have an unusually exceptional talent in a specific area - art, music, and mathematics are a few examples of areas in which this talent may occur.  The lead character from the film “Rain Man” was an autistic savant. 

Source:  MIT