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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2005) 187: 83-86
© 2005 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Autism: functional brain mapping of exceptional calendar capacity

NATHALIE BODDAERT, MD

ERM 0205 INSERM-CEA, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, Orsay, and Service de Radiologie Pédiatrique, Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades, Paris

CATHERINE BARTHÉLÉMY, MD, PhD

INSERM Unité 316, CHU Bretonneau, Tours

JEAN-BAPTISTE POLINE, PhD

ERM 0205 INSERM-CEA, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, Orsay

YVES SAMSON, MD

Service des Urgences Cerebro-Vasculaires, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris

FRANCIS BRUNELLE, MD

ERM 0205 INSERM-CEA, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, Orsay, and Service de Radiologie Pédiatrique, Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades, Paris

MÔNICA ZILBOVICIUS, MD, PhD

ERM 0205 INSERM-CEA, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, Orsay, France

Correspondence: Mônica Zilbovicius, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, DRM, DSV, CEA, 4 Place du General Leclerc 91406, Orsay, France. Tel: +33 (1)01 69 86 78 90; fax: +33 (1)01 69 86 77 28; e-mail: zilbo{at}shfj.cea.fr

Declaration of interest None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.

Background 'Autistic savants' are individuals with autism who have extraordinary skills. Brain mechanisms underlying such capacities are still unknown.

Aims To map the exceptional calendar capacity of a man with primary autism.

Method Positron emissiontomography was used to map brain activity in a man who is able to associate a day of the week with the corresponding calendar date.

Results During the calendar task, the left hippocampus, the left frontal cortex and the left middle temporal lobe were activated.

Conclusions The cerebral circuit involved in this man's prodigious calendar skill is similar to that normally involved in memory retrieval tasks. These results suggest that the prodigious capacities may be sustained by memory processing.




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