Strategies of 4 men (WAIS-R range 65 to 76) when making calendar calcu
lations were investigated. Each subject completed a battery of standar
dized psychological tests. Results suggested that subjects were aware
of rules and regularities associated with the calendar, including know
ledge of the 14 different calendar templates, one of which describes a
ny calendar year. Their strategies were rigidly applied and could not
be modified easily, even when doing so would have facilitated performa
nce. The involvement of practice, memory, anchor dates, eidetic imager
y, and mathematical algorithms were discussed. We concluded that these
savants relied heavily on memory, with little manipulation of cogniti
ve input, as opposed to transforming stimuli.