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There are, however, examples of people who seem very neurotypical indeed achieving savant-like skills through sheer diligence. Probably the most famous is that of London taxi drivers, who must master the Knowledgeie, the location of 25,000 streets, and the quickest ways between themto qualify for a licence.
The expert here is Eleanor Maguire of University College, London, who famously showed a few years ago that the shape of the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in long-term learning, changes in London cabbies. Dr Maguire and her team have now turned their attention to how cabbies learn the Knowledge.
The prodigious geographical knowledge of the average cabbie is, indeed, savant-like. But Dr Maguire recently found that it comes at a cost. Cabbies, on average, are worse than random control subjects andhorroralso worse than bus drivers, at memory tests such as word-pairing. Surprisingly, that is also true of their general spatial memory. Nothing comes for nothing, it seems, and genius has its price.
Savant syndrome, then, is a case where the politically correct euphemism 'differently abled' has real meaning. The conclusion that should be drawn, perhaps, is not that neurotypicals should attempt to ape savants, but that savantseven those who are not geniusesshould be welcomed for what they are, and found a more honoured place in society.
A. 어휘
sheer 순전한, 완전한. qualify 자격을 부여하다. expert 전문가.
hippocampus (뇌의)海馬狀隆起(해마상융기). cabby 택시운전사.
prodigious 놀랄만한, 거대한. geographical 지리적.
at a cost 비용을 치르고, 희생을 하고. random 무작위의.
control subjects 통제 받는 피실험자.
random control subjects 무작위로 추출된 실험대상자.
horror 끔찍하게도. word-pairing 낱말 짝짓기. surprisingly 놀랍게도.
true of 적용되다. spatial memory 공간기억. for nothing 무료로.
euphemism 婉曲語法(완곡어법). ape 흉내내다.
B. 구문
- There are, however, examples . . . through sheer diligence.
[그러나 일반 사람이 순전한 노력을 통해서 천재와 같은 기술을 성취하는 예가 있다.]
-Nothing comes for nothing, it seems, and genius has its price.
[세상에 어떤 것도 공짜는 없고 천재도 값을 지불해야 되는 것처럼 보인다]
Genius locus ④
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- 2009-11-09, 11:04











