Head injury causes savant syndrome

I have met one woman like this and had the opportunity to work closely with another. In both of their cases they were in car accidents. I didn't know either of them before their accidents, but I have multiple friends that had known each of them for years or decades prior. In both cases they were described as pretty average before their accidents. Since their accidents they have both become extremely prolific readers [1] , with drastically better memory and cognition [2], and can't sleep more than 4 hours a night if they try.

[1] In the case of my colleague, she read everything she wanted, at which point she read the first Dewey decimal cataloged book in the local library and then started to read each subsequent book in progression. Less than three years after her accident she had almost finished every book in the local library and was already making plans to get a membership at the state's largest library.

[2] Neither have photographic memory, but it is something eerily close; and they make cognitive leaps that never cease to amaze me.

Article is very cheesy and full of journalism, but whatever, nothing unusual about it. It's something different I really don't like about that story. He's called "genius", "mathematical marvel" and such, but I don't see any reference to what exactly did he do to be called so, aside of self-promotion. Telegraph.co.uk article says "He is now recognised as a leading maths thinker." Hm. Maybe he is, but what about any references on by whom he is "recognised"? His book title is "Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marvel". Yeah, I know, marketing is dirty stuff, but have you ever heard real mathematician call himself a "genius"?

Anyway, something even worse: searching for "Jason Padgett" shows many results on some journal sites, facebook, amazon, fineartamerica.com, whatever. And guess what? Nothing on arxiv.org! Searching for "site:arxiv.org Jason Padgett" results are filled by works of "Deborah Padgett, Jason A. Surace" and such, and no "Jason Padgett" on the first 2 pages! Weird, huh.

I have never told someone about this, but the opposite happened to me. I had been tested because I was different than any other child of my age. And was diagnosed with a very high IQ (you can guess how many friends I had), but after I was attacked and hit heavily at my head by some russians without a reason (for their pleasure), I have lost most of my ability to think as fast as before. I was in coma for 2days at the local hospital and have no memory of what happened, except of what friends told me. I can't explain how life depressing that was for me, but almost 7y later, I started to gain a little in my speed of thought. However I'll probably never be that smart again and it feels like a big loss to me. I'm still quite talented, but nothing comparable to before the attack.

I speak as a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor.

I feel that a TBI may have its benefits. The source article is probably a showing of an incredibly lucky case. I know that I only have a handful of positive side effects, and nothing "magical" like this.

But the negatives... oh man, the negatives. I would never choose to experience the negatives again. I endured the side effects for two years and they're incredibly frustrating. You wonder if every moment is a "brain injury moment" and doubt yourself at every decision. It means you're wrong almost all the time and everyone around you tells you so.

There's not much more frustrating than that. One positive that I've found is I'm incredibly open to negative feedback: I understand and accept I am probably wrong. I would have much rather learned this a different way.

I should also note in my last neuropsychology test, I was found to have eidetic memory, specifically the emotional memory: I remember my surroundings when an emotional event happens. I've had this my whole life but, to be honest, I included it.

Ironic that people are joking in this discussion about intentionally causing head injuries while elsewhere on HN it is being discussed how head injuries are very common among homeless individuals (and probably partly causative of their inability to take proper care of themselves).

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7648933

Padgett's cognitive transformation is real, even if the mathematically-illiterate reporting on it obscures the nature of that transformation. Berit Brogaard, who's a professor of philosophy and neuroscience at the University of Missouri St. Louis, has done a lot of studies with Padgett in the course of her work on synesthesia [1]. I haven't read any of her papers involving Padgett myself, but people looking for a more rigorous treatment of his condition might find something of interest in her writing.

[1] http://www.stlmag.com/St-Louis-Magazine/August-2013/Pieces-o...

This was covered, along with 5 other interesting cases of people acquiring interesting abilities after injury, in an amusing Cracked.com article [1].

One of the most interesting, and well documented, is Tony Cicoria [2]. He was stuck by lightning, and then shortly afterwards developed an obsession with piano music, and quickly taught himself to play and compose.

[1] http://www.cracked.com/article_19504_6-people-who-gained-ama...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Cicoria

Another rare after-effect of head injuries is 'Gourmand Syndrome', where the victim (beneficiary?) becomes obsessed with fine foods:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gourmand_syndrome

Some more examples of this kind of thing: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-02/when-brain-dam...

> "He said his transformation also brought a second ability: he can now draw the complex triangle-based geometric designs called fractals. That lets him translate high-level mathematical concepts like Pi and the theory of relativity into easy-to-understand illustrative drawings."

What?

Who'd have guessed that retrophrenology actually works.

Seems like he's just trying to sell a book.