![]() While the large majority of children with autism aren't child prodigies, these results are suggestive that there is a prevalence of autism among prodigies. The researchers also found that as a group, the prodigies showed higher levels of autistic traits compared with a control group consisting of people weren't prodigies (but the prodigies scored only slightly higher than those with high-functioning autism, or Asperger's). (See here for a demonstration of the exceptional memory of a physics prodigy.) There have been many descriptions of the phenomenal working memory of prodigies, including a historical description of Mozart that involves his superior ability to memorize musical pieces and manipulate scores in his head. On the Stanford-Binet IQ test, working memory is measured in both the verbal and non-verbal domains and includes tasks such as processing sentences while having to remember the last word of each sentence, and recalling the location of blocks and numbers in the correct order in which they were presented. Instead, working memory involves the ability to hold information in memory while being able to manipulate and process other incoming information. In fact, six out of the eight prodigies scored at the 99.9th percentile! Working memory isn't solely the ability to memorize a string of digits. More striking is that every single prodigy scored off the charts in working memory - better than 99 percent of the general population. Again, this is consistent with prior research showing that balanced cognitive test profiles are more the exception than the rule among academically precocious students as well as students who are precocious in art and music. That didn't prevent him from winning a prestigious award for his jazz improvisational abilities, becoming the youngest person ever to perform with a well-known musician at one of the best know music venues in America! He also scored three films without any formal composition lessons. In fact, one prodigy obtained a total IQ score of 108 and a visual spatial IQ score of 71, which is worse than 97 percent of the general population. All of the prodigies showed uneven cognitive profiles. More telling, however, were the subtest scores. Consistent with the earlier work of David Henry Feldman and Martha Morelock, it appears that a high IQ is not necessary to be a prodigy. The first thing they noticed is the wide spread of IQ scores- ranging from 108 to 147. There was one art prodigy, one math prodigy, four musical prodigies, one prodigy who switched from music to gastronomy and another prodigy who switched from music to art. Most of the children reached professional level performance in their domain by the age of 10, and their chosen domains were notably rule-based. In one study, Ruthsatz and violin virtuoso Jourdan Urbach administered the latest edition of the Stanford-Binet IQ test to nine prominent child prodigies who have all been featured on national and international television programs. In recent years, psychologist Joanne Ruthsatz and colleagues have been shedding light on the mind of the prodigy. The reason why they are so driven to deliberately practice in their domain requires explaining. While it's true that many prodigies receive support, resources, and encouragement from parents and coaches early on, such support is typically the result of a demonstrated "rage to learn", as the prodigy expert Martha J. ![]() Their performances are hard to explain from a purely deliberate practice perspective. While their work would be enough to impress us if they were 40, prodigies typically reach adult levels of performance in non-verbal, rule-based domains such as chess, art, and music before the age of 10. Prodigies dazzle us with their virtuoso violin concertos, seemingly prescient chess moves, and vivid paintings.
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