Kim Peek

[Reaper]

Anybody here know about Kim Peek? He is a world famous savant. Basically he has agenesis of the corpus callosum (meaning that he is lacking a corpus callosum all together), and that is believed to give him the ability to memorize vasts amount of information and numbers. In particular he has an intense interest in postal zip codes. He scores well below average on the IQ test though, and has very poor social and self-help skills.

 

I actually watched the video on it and what I found interesting is that with a corpus callosum, it is impossible for us to do the things he can do. However, Kim's ability to reason is virtually non-existent, and he still lives with his dad.

 

here is the video on it, and they detail MRI scans of his brain and psychological tests:

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6767261625889336539&q=Kim+Peek&total=50&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

 

 

Rainman was inspired by Kim Peek.

[Sisyphus]

Interesting. I wonder how that condition relates to autism.

[Reaper]

Technically it is not Autism, but many of the symptoms are similar such as complete absence of social skills and cognitive abilities.

 

In his case, because he is missing a corpus callosum, both hemispheres of the brain can't really communicate with each other. So what ends up happening is that the brain has a hard time being able to monitor the health of the body, coordinate movement, and their cognitive abilities are virtually non-existent. While they can memorize very well, they really can't understand what they know or conceptualize it. Social skills are also severely impaired. Seizures are quite common. Intellectually, people with this condition range from average intelligence to below average, going all the way down to mental retardation.

[Sisyphus]

I realize it's not autism, but since the symptoms seem pretty much identical, I'm wondering if the causes are related. We still really don't know what causes autism, right? Maybe it's also impaired communication between parts of the brain but for more subtle reasons than pieces missing.

[RyanJ]

I've header of him too. His mental skills are astounding, his memory is amazing in its self but I also find it interesting that his brain may not work all that differently from everyone elses.

[Reaper]

I realize it's not autism, but since the symptoms seem pretty much identical, I'm wondering if the causes are related.

 

 

I think the causes are a little different for Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum and Autism. There is strong evidence that Autism has genetic causes, but ACC can have both genetic and environmental causes, such as obtaining an infection or injury during some time period of pregnancy. Mind you there many disorders associated with this, such as Aicardi Syndrome. There are symptoms that are identical to Autism, but not all.

 

We still really don't know what causes autism, right? Maybe it's also impaired communication between parts of the brain but for more subtle reasons than pieces missing.

 

There is strong evidence that Autism is genetic and can be spontaneous. The genetics are even stronger for Asperger's Syndrome, which is the mildest form and that particular condition is unique in the fact that it appears to be heritable. There was a radio talk about this on NPR right here a little back, and the genetics of Autism are very, very complex. This is because there are hundreds of genes involved in intelligence and brain development, so its hard to say what the specific cause is. However, some copies genes responsible for neurotransmitters and certain hormones are missing for people with Autism, for example oxytocin.

 

You can actually read and listen to the NPR program right here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8926283

 

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As for brain differences, people with Autism have abnormalities in brain structure, but not quite as profound as that in ACC. Mostly its abnormalities in grey matter and white matter volume in the frontal lobes and the cerebellum. For people with Asperger's syndrome, there are excesses of white matter in certain parts of the brain.

 

Here is the full study right here:

http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/128/2/268#SEC3

 

Because this is off topic right now, I encourage you to refer to the Autism thread for more information and discussion. Later on I might drop by that thread and add more current research.

 

 

P.S. I sometimes get freaked out by this, because I am in essence detailing what my own brain probably looks like . I am describing myself, and it doesn't sound too good. But knowledge is nice, and helps me understand my weaknesses better.

 

I've header of him too. His mental skills are astounding, his memory is amazing in its self but I also find it interesting that his brain may not work all that differently from everyone elses.

 

 

Definitely. In the video they said that they might actually find a way to improve memory by studying his brain, though they didn't really detail it very much. I've read somewhere that magnetic stimulation might help. As for his mental skills, he is technically retarded, but his memory skills are astounding.

[iNow]

Kim Peek passed away last week.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/us/27peek.html

[DJBruce]

That is very very sad. I recently watch a documentary on him, and his abilities are amazing. More importantly than that he was incredibly jovial and sociable.