The human brain is a treasure trove for mysteries that continue to elude our understanding. When we hack the mind of the leading geniuses in the world, do we come close to answering our own questions? Today, psychologist extraordinaire Dr. Darold Treffert shares with us half a century’s worth of brain pickings on geniuses, savants, autism, and the human potential.

 

 

 

Dr. Treffert refers to savant syndrome as a rare and extraordinary condition where someone with an underlying disability has some island of genius that stands in stark contrast to overall handicap. This disconnect is so jarring that the exceptional ability immediately captures the attention of any observer. He fondly recalls encounters with an autistic child who could tell which street corner a Milwaukee bus was passing at any given time of the day and a kid who could tell him what happened in history on a given date at a time of the encyclopedia.

 

In order to understand our own potentials, the trick is to know how to tap our deeply-buried abilities without having some kind of brain injury or disease. These abilities lie dormant within every human mind. It’s a challenge we all must take to seek it and make it bloom to become what it can be.

 

 

When a person suffers from an injury or condition that induces brain trauma, they can develop abilities that they have never exhibited before. It can be a sudden inclination towards music or art, even mechanical abilities. These cases corroborate the claim that the human mind may be an unsolvable labyrinth.

 

Comprehending the workings of the complicated circuitry that is the human mind is as much a travail as learning the functions of the thousand neurons that make up the connections. It’s fascinating how the human mind can be considered a separate entity from the anatomical part that is the brain. In this context, our minds, indeed, may be a dimension unconquerable by the human ability.

Bio

Dr. Darold Treffert is an alum of the University of Wisconsin Medical School in 1958, intern in Eugene, Oregon, and a resident in Psychiatry at University Hospitals in Madison, Wisconsin. Two years after joining the staff to develop the Child-Adolescent Unit of Winnebago Mental Health Institute, he was named Superintendent in 1964. After 15 years of service in the position, he divided his time between the private practice of Psychiatry and a position as Executive Director of the Fond du Lac County Health Care Center.

 

An internationally known researcher on Savant Syndrome, he has published several books and journals. Extraordinary People: Understanding Savant Syndrome