Savant for a Day

Savant Syndrome is not a recognized medical diagnosis, but it's described as a rare condition in which people with developmental disorders have one or more areas of expertise, ability, or brilliance that is beyond the limitations of the average human mind. Most individuals with savant syndrome have an autistic disorder, while others have disabilities such as brain injury.

At the University of Sydney, a volunteer sat in a chair waiting to have his brain altered by an electromagnetic pulse. His forehead was connected, by a series of electrodes, to a machine called a ''Danish-made transcranial magnetic stimulator.'' This was also known as the Medtronic Mag Pro, and it was being operated by Allan Snyder, a remarkable scientists of human cognition

As a series of electromagnetic pulses were being directed into his frontal lobes, Snyder asked him to draw a picture of a cat. Now keep in mind that this patient has no artistic ability what so ever. Snyder called this a "creativity-amplifying machine", a way of altering our states of mind without taking drugs. The patient was told to draw four cats and when he was done, the electrodes were removed. The first and second drawing were fairly bad, the third and fourth looked as if a profesional had drawn them.

Snyder was able to induce these remarkable feats in a controlled, repeatable experiment. It's a breakthrough that may lead to a revolution in the way we understand the limits of our own intelligence and the functioning of the human brain in general.