• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.76-92
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• 2023

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze research trends in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and savant syndrome and their cognitive characteristics through a systematic literature review. The objectives of this study were to establish an overview of research trends in ASD and savant syndrome, analyze the overall characteristics of individuals with ASD and savant syndrome, and examine their cognitive characteristics. Methods: For the systematic literature review, three criteria were used to select review articles: 1) literature from peer-reviewed journals, published in the past 15 years, from 2008 to 2022; 2) subjects with ASD and savant syndrome; 3) study objectives focused on the basic phenomenon and cognitive characteristics of ASD and savant syndrome. Finally, based on the selection criteria, a total of 40 articles were included. Results: Five themes and nine subthemes were derived from the analysis of 40 studies. The five main themes were as follows: 1) What is savant syndrome? 2) Demographic characteristics of savant syndrome; 3) Spectra of savant syndrome; 4) Savant syndrome and ASD; and 5) Cognitive characteristics of ASD with savant syndrome. The subthemes of the cognitive characteristics were weak central coherence, detail-focused cognitive processing, enhanced perceptual functioning, and hyper-systemizing. Conclusion: Several studies have been conducted to understand ASD and savant syndrome; however, no single theory can specify the cognitive characteristics of people with ASD and savant syndrome. Therefore, further systematic and multi-layered research on ASD and savant syndrome are required for more comprehensive results.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2023

Savant syndrome was described before autism. However, they soon became closely associated, as many of their symptoms (intellectual disability, repetitive behaviors, alterations in social communication, and islets of abilities) overlap. Only a few women with autism have been diagnosed with savant syndrome. The theories or hypotheses that attempt to explain savant syndrome, which are common in autism, present differential treatment according to sex. We postulate that savant syndrome associated with autism as well as autism in general is underdiagnosed in women.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.192-197
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• 2011

Objectives: This study was conducted to examine the prevalence and characteristics of savant skills and the relationship between the savant skills and autistic symptoms in Korean ASD children. Methods: 141 ASD subjects participated in this study and they were divided in to two groups based on the presence or lack of savant skills. The domain scores and total scores of the K-ADI-R, K-ASDS and SRS were used for evaluating the ASD symptoms between the groups. Results: Memory (N=47) was the most prevalent savant skill in the savant ASD group (N=60). The savant ASD group had a statistically higher mean age and IQ score than did the nonsavant ASD group. Despite their high IQ profile, the savant ASD group showed a higher restricted, repetitive and stereotype behavior score on the K-ADI-R and higher language and cognitive scores on the K-ASDS than did the nonsavant ASD group. Conclusions: These results suggest savant syndrome in ASD might be related to the severity of some subdomain of autistic symptoms even though their IQ scores were higher than nonsavant ASD patients.

• Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.411-426
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• 2003

I report on the case of a polyglot ‘savant’ (C), who is mildly autistic, severely apraxic, and of limited intellectual ability; yet who can read, write, speak and understand about twenty languages. I outline his abilities, both verbal and non-verbal, noting the asymmetry between his linguistic ability and his general intellectual inability and, within the former, between his unlimited morphological and lexical prowess as opposed to his limited syntax. I then spell out the implications of these findings for modularity. C's unique profile suggested a further project in which we taught him British Sign Language. I report on this work, paying particular attention to the learning and use of classifiers, and discuss its relevance to the issue of modality: whether the human language faculty is preferentially tied to the oral domain, or is ‘modality-neutral’ as between the spoken and the visual modes.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.105-120
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• 2020

Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social impairments, patients with ASD frequently manifest atypical sensory behaviors. Recently, atypical sensory perception in ASD has received much attention, yet little is known about its cause or neurobiology. Herein, we review the findings from neuroimaging studies related to visual perception in ASD. Specifically, we examined the neural underpinnings of visual detection, motion perception, and face processing in ASD. Results from neuroimaging studies indicate that atypical visual perception in ASD may be influenced by attention or higher order cognitive mechanisms, and atypical face perception may be affected by disrupted social brain network. However, there is considerable evidence for atypical early visual processing in ASD. It is likely that visual perceptual abnormalities are independent of deficits of social functions or cognition. Importantly, atypical visual perception in ASD may enhance difficulties in dealing with complex and subtle social stimuli, or improve outstanding abilities in certain fields in individuals with Savant syndrome. Thus, future research is required to elucidate the characteristics and neurobiology of autistic visual perception to effectively apply these findings in the interventions of ASD.