Savant skills.

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What defines a savant skill?

I have a high IQ (160), and I don't know if my skill of manipulating numbers and memorising train maps are an artifact of my high IQ, or are on the savant spectrum?

I scored 180 on the arithmetic skills subtest of the IQ test (officially done by an educational psychologist), and my mental arithmetic is often at lightning speed. I often come up with correct answers even before I've consciously worked them out.

As for memorising train maps, I can learn a typical train map in 20 or so minutes and it will stay imprinted in my head for months and months without effort.

Also I remember pretty much every number I come across.

Are these savant skills or part of my high IQ?

From what I've seen, savants are extraordinary people who may fail in one area (social, personal grooming, crossing the street, etc) then turn around and be extremely gifted in some area like math, science, a musical instrument, or memory recall/eidetic like Kim Peel. It's said there are currently only about 100 prodigious savants in the world. Pretty small number, eh? Regarding the savants: 50% are autistic and the other 50% have psychological disorders or mental illness.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4nLmI06Hwg[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkDMaJ-wZmQ[/youtube]

this boy is exceptional in so many ways. he is a savant.




[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o7RBjrkb0A[/youtube]

I would say so. You seem to have really bad sensory issues from your other posts. So that could be the "failing" part, and the memory could be the savant part.

FYI, I can never remember numbers, or I can, but always out of order. I can never remember orders or sequences of anything.

I'm abnormally good at math.. I'm no Terrence Tao, but I'm good at math.