Orlando Serrell

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Orlando Serrell

• Was hit by a baseball on the left side of his
  head at the age of 10
• Recalls the weather, where he was, what he ate
  and what he was doing for every day since the
  accident ? calendar-brain

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Orlando Serrell

• University of Columbia performed a functional MRI
  on him
• MRI Magnetic resonance imaging
• Functional MRI Measures the activity of the
  brain during a special activity
• ? dominance of right fronto-temporal lobe
  activity

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Is there a Rain Man in each of us?
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Allan Snyder

• vision researcher and award-winning physicist
• director of the Centre for the Mind at the
  University of Sydney and the Australian National
  University

"Each of us has the innate capacity for
savantlike skills, but that mental machinery
is unconscious in most people."
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TMS transcranial magnetic stimulation

• originally developed as a tool for brain surgery
• applied to the left fronto-temporal lobe of the
  brain (the part that is damaged with savants)

Intention shut down certain distracting mental
functions to a minimum
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And then?

• have test takers draw pictures, proofread texts,
  estimate amounts etc., before and shortly after
  TMS
• ? 40 exhibit extraordinary, newfound mental
  skills

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criticism

• rTMS repetition always leads to improvement
• 40 is not significant enough
• lack of explanation ? too experimental

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TMS in psychiatry

• used to dispel the inner voices of
  schizophrenics
• used to fight clinical depression
• used to reverse insomnia and sleep deficiencies

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Where can TMS lead to?

• commercial availability math-enhancing
  hair-dryers, anti-depression helmets
• classroom prepare students for certain lessons
• army keep sleep-deprived soldiers alert and
  boost their cognitive functioning