Savant syndrome

Savant syndrome is a phenomenon in which a person shows exceptional aptitude in one domain, such as art, memory, arithmetic, music or spatial skills, alongside some form of social or intellectual impairment. Most people with the syndrome have a neurodevelopmental condition such as autism, and the rest usually have a central nervous system injury or disease; it can also appear later in life after brain injury. The syndrome is not recognised as a mental disorder in the DSM-5, and no formal treatment guidelines exist for it. The first medical account dates to 1783, and the older term idiot savant was introduced in 1887 by John Langdon Down, though it is now considered a misnomer. It is estimated to affect about one in a million people, and men are diagnosed about six times as often as women.