L. Pring et B. Hermelin, BOTTLE, TULIP AND WINEGLASS - SEMANTIC AND STRUCTURAL PICTURE-PROCESSING BY SAVANT ARTISTS, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry and allied disciplines, 34(8), 1993, pp. 1365-1385
Semantic and structural aspects of picture processing were investigate
d with graphically gifted mentally handicapped subjects and intellectu
ally normal children. The results suggest that savants as well as cont
rols rely primarily on semantically organised memory schemata when rep
roducing pictures. A semantically determined strategy also determines
picture sorting. The findings indicate that within the domain of exper
tise there appears to be no difference between savants and normals reg
arding the nature of the mental structures underlying specific talents
. The mental structures on which such talents are based, should theref
ore be regarded as being relatively independent of the level of genera
l cognitive functioning.