Brain Man

One Man's Gift May Be The Key To Better Understanding The Brain

(CBS)  Scientists say a memory feat like this is truly extraordinary. Dr. V.S. Ramachandran and his team at the California Center for Brain Study tested Daniel extensively after his Pi achievement.

What did he make of him?

"I was surprised at how articulate and intelligent he was, and was able to interact socially and introspect on his own-abilities," says Dr. Ramachandran.

And while that introspection is extremely rare among savants, Daniel’s ability to describe how his mind works could be invaluable to scientists studying the brain, our least understood organ.

"Even how you and I do 17 minus nine is a big mystery. You know, how are these little wisps of jelly in your brain doing that computation? We don't know that," Dr. Ramachandran explains.

It may seem to defy logic, but Ramachandran believes that a savant’s genius could actually result from brain injury. "One possibility is that many other parts of the brain are functioning abnormally or sub-normally. And this allows the patient to allocate all his attentional resources to the one remaining part," he explains. "And there's a lot of clinical evidence for this. Some patients have a stroke and suddenly, their artistic skills improve."

That theory fits well with Daniel. At the age of four, he suffered a massive epileptic seizure. He believes that seizure contributed to his condition. Numbers were no longer simply numbers and he had developed a rare crossing of the senses known as synesthesia.

"I see numbers in my head as colors and shapes and textures. So when I see a long sequence, the sequence forms landscapes in my mind," Tammet explains. "Every number up to 10,000, I can visualize in this way, has it's own color, has it's own shape, has it's own texture."

For example, when Daniel says he sees Pi, he does those instant computations, he is not calculating, but says the answer simply appears to him as a landscape of colorful shapes.

"The shapes aren't static. They're full of color. They're full of texture. In a sense, they're full of life," he says.

Asked if they’re beautiful, Tammet says, "Not all of them. Some of them are ugly. 289 is an ugly number. I don't like it very much. Whereas 333, for example, is beautiful to me. It's round. It's…."

"Chubby," Safer remarks.

'It's-yes. It's chubby,' Tammet agrees.

Yet even with the development of these extraordinary abilities as a child, nobody sensed that Daniel was a prodigy, including his mother, Jennifer. But he was different.

"He was constantly counting things," Jennifer remembers. "I think, what first attracted him to books, was the actual numbers on each page. And he just loved counting."

Asked if she thinks there’s a connection between his epilepsy and his rare talent, she tells Safer, "He was always different from-when he was really a few weeks old, I noticed he was different. So I'm not sure that it's entirely that, but I think it might have escalated it."

Daniel was also diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome-a mild form of autism. It made for a painful childhood.

"I would flap my hands sometimes when I was excited, or pull at my fingers, and pull at my lips," Tammet remembers. "And of course, the children saw these things and would repeat them back to me, and tease me about them. And I would put my fingers in my ears and count very quickly in powers of two. Two, four, eight, 16, 32, 64."

"Numbers were my friends. And they never changed. So, they were reliable. I could trust them," he says.

And yet, Daniel did not retreat fully into that mysterious prison of autism, as many savants do. He believes his large family may have actually forced him to adapt.

"Because my parents, having nine children, had so much to do, so much to cope with, I realized I had to do for myself," he says.

He now runs his own online educational business. He and his partner Neil try to keep a low profile, despite his growing fame.

[kksg1996]

Would like to connect with wrighbower at 1:20 PM: Jan 29,2007. My granddaughter also has asperber's and she is 10 years old and looking for a penpal. It would be good for her to connect with someone who understand and someone that she can understand.
Please respond:Marilyn Pettigrew..Manchester NH
[e-mail]

[anotherjg]

Thank you for sharing a view of such intellect with 60-minutes viewers!! I am so excited to see such demonstration of intellect - most fascinated by the image of pi and would like to see the image of the golden section. Most wonderful to consider such beauty! Would Daniel show us?
Julie Grabel
Huntington Beach, CA

[anotherjg]

Thank you for sharing a view of such intellect with 60-minutes viewers!! I am so excited to see such demonstration of intellect - most fascinated by the image of pi and would like to see the image of the golden section. Most wonderful to consider such beauty! Would Daniel show us?
Julie Grabel
Huntington Beach, CA

[nsmom]

I thought last night's episode was great, but I thought the story on "Brain Man" was absolutely fascinating. What an insight to the human brain.

ABE25425's comment that Daniel didn't like the number 333 is incorrect. It was 289 he didn't like, and really liked 333.

[abe25425-2009]

Believe it was a mistake when Safer referred to 333 as chubby as response to Daniel saying it not so beautiful of a number to him. The discussion point was about how Daniel sees numbers as images, we saw how he sees Pi a couple times. When he was saying 333 was not beautiful he meant I believe how his translated image of the number apppears, but that image is not some coloring in of "333," rather it is an entirely different image that his mind translates. Safer's comment about 333 appearing chubby seemed to reveal he was missing Daniel's point.

[billzor]

Daniel's website is: www.optimnem.co.uk. he maintains a blog, offers tutoring, and you can order an autographed copy of his book. He is a remarkable, nice, soft spoken man. A true gentleman, in every sense. A hero for me.

[bswood1]

As my husband and I watched this segment, we were amazed at the similarities with our 6 year old son. He has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as well. He can tell you the day of the week a particular date will or did fall on, which totally amazes others. He memorizes many things and is often obsessed with doing this. He is also quite sensitive to sounds and has difficulty with social interaction with peers. We would love to learn more and would like information on dealing with his various daily issues. Thanks for the wonderful story, it really hit home for us.

[desertmaid-2009]

My 7 yr old son has high funtioning autism. In a group of kids his own age, you cannot single him out. However, he has incredible math and memory skills. He also does the age/birthday calculations and calendar memoization. He is in 2nd grade, but is bored in his math class. He just told me recently, "My computer types it into my brain and then BAM! It tells me the answer. Then I tell my teacher." People who don't know about his condition don't notice anthing unique about him, until he starts telling them how old they will be in the year 2035! He amazes me every day.

[carole-line]

Thank you for that wonderful story. I will definately go out and buy the book, being the mom of an autistic child I appreciate all the "insight" I can get. For Daniel... 3.1416 is all I have to say. Cheers and thank you again.

[wmh_seattle]

Anyone who wants to learn more about synesthesia and incredible feats of memory should read A.R. Luria's "The Mind of a Mnemonist".

[wrightbower]

What an interesting and fabulous story! I can't wait to read the book. I appreciate any positive educational media production about Asperger's Syndrome as many people are unaware. I would not call Asperger's Syndrome a mild form of autism. My son has Asperger's Syndrome and there is nothing mild about his challenges. Please know that many individuals with Aspergers are gifted and quite bright; not every one is a savant. Learning and living in this world is a huge challenge for individuals with Asperger's Syndrome; they require specialized educational techniques and help with developing social skills and relationships. There needs to be more research about Asperger's Synrdome. Please support the Autism Society of America, MAAP, and other organizations which aspire to improve the lives of individuals with Asapergers and their families. Professor Linda Wright-Bower, Fort Wayne, Indiana

[swendoog]

Never underestimate the abilities of the man/woman next to you!

[narrator3]

CBS: fascinating story. Especially intriguing Daniel Tammet%u2019s images of numbers. They remind me of the images created by followers of anthroposophy & other meditative movements

[dashbaugh]

I work at a middle school with a child with aspergers. He will memorize word for word along with facial expression and actions every cartoon he watches. He is also very good with numbers. It was encoraging to watch your program last night. I see hope for my student to make it in this world. I can't wait to read "Born on a Blue Day."

[lkh85]

Interesting that Daniel had alot of siblings and can interact socially. My 17 yr. old son who was diagnosed at age 15 with high functioning aspergers, has problems with social skills. Not being able to put a finger on what made him different I overly protected him, and he just has one sibling. My son is some what a whiz at math and he loves keeping statistics. Very interested in finding Daniels book.

[random_radar]

If you are curious about the strange things that can happen to our brain, read the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" by Oliver Sacks. Really interesting things can happen due to brain lesions.

[joyalton]

Then there are those of us who can remember numbers fairly well eg. phone numbers and social security numbers but strike out on trying to remember names. The mind is a wonderous thing.

[tinacolada00]

I have a 20 year old autistic son. While he does not display any savant characteristics besides memorizing movies, jingles, voices, etc;
He can drive a car! Makes me nervous, but...
I look forward to reading Daniel's book as much as I read all of Temple Grandin's and Oliver Sacks's books. Temple is another one that can describe her brain processes: such as not they are not in words or pictures but a video tape.
Tina Cooper

[redrumjoe666]

Thanks for running this piece. Sharing many traits of Daniel myself, and many of his difficulties, its nice to see I'm not alone in the world.

[joshua141]

That piece really was something. I have a psychology teacher who would be really intrested in seeing it. Is there any way to get a copy?