COMPENSATED STRUCTURAL SAVANTISM (CSS): THE CLASSIC SAVANT AS A DECOMPENSATED MANIFESTATION OF THE SAME NEUROBIOLOGICAL SUBSTRATE
Keywords:
Compensated Structural Savantism, Savant Syndrome;, Neurobiological Phenotype, Polygenic Risk Scores, Neuropsychological Assessment.Abstract
This study introduces Compensated Structural Savantism (CSS) as a concept explaining specific behavioral, phenotypic, and personality traits derived from morphological similarities to classic savant syndrome, but effectively compensated in these individuals. CSS is not a description of mere savant-like behaviors in non-diagnostic cases, nor a mitigated former savant state. Rather, the classic savant reflects a more decompensated expression of the same underlying structural phenotype. Thus, the CSS individual is not a “compensated savant”; the classic savant is a CSS phenotype that failed to reach functional equilibrium. Evidence comes from genetic data of dozens of participants, Wechsler IQ tests and other neuropsychological tools with careful construct differentiation, behavioral assessments, in-depth interviews, and imputed genomic data, using resources such as PGS Catalog, Open GWAS, biobanks, sentinel rsIDs, and top hits for exhaustive variant coverage.
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