British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Talent and Autism

6.30–8.00pm, Thursday 12th March 2009

A joint British Academy and Royal Society panel discussion
convened by Professor Uta Frith, FBA, UCL and
Professor Francesca Happé, King's College London.

This discussion forms part of the ESRC's Festival of Social Science 2009
and will be hosted by the Royal Society

Extraordinary Talent remains one of the big unexplained puzzles, which will only be solved by a true collaboration between sciences and humanities. One key to the puzzle might be provided by the raised incidence of exceptional talent in individuals with autism. A Discussion Meeting on Autism and Talent was organised under the joint auspices of the British Academy and Royal Society and held in September 2008. Contributors from different disciplines explored aspects ranging from the prevalence and nature of exceptional talent and its basis in the brain, to the cognitive theories currently trying to explain the origin of talent, to the representation of talent and autism in biography and fiction. The outcome of this meeting showed some remarkable convergence of ideas, for instance, the possibility that a detail-focused processing style may predispose to talent. However, it is also clear that many of the most important questions still remain open.  Are great artists fundamentally different from the rest of us? Is talent mainly nature or nurture? Is there a price to pay for exceptional ability in one domain? Does having 'a little bit of autism' predispose to talent?

Chair: Professor Uta Frith, FBA, FRS, FmedSci, Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Development, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL

The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Daniel Glaser, Head of Special Projects in Public Engagement at the Wellcome Trust.

Speakers include:

Joan Freeman, Visiting Professor at Middlesex University, London, a distinguished psychologist workiing in the development of human abilities to their highest levels will be speakign on giftedness and talent in children who are not autistic.

Francesca Happé, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, highly acclaimed author of numerous scientific articles and books with particular interest in cognitive strengths and weaknesses in autism, and the genetic basis of cognitive style in autism.

Mark Lythgoe, Director of the Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, UCL, with wide-ranging research interest in arts and science, including the investigation of unexpected talent following  brain injury.

John Sloboda, Emeritus Professor at Keele University  and Director of its Unit for the Study of Musical Skill and  Development. He is internationally known for his work on the  psychology of music.

Attendance

Registration is not required for this event. Seats will be allocated on arrival. For further details, please contact Catherine Lawrence at the Royal Society:  020 7451 2581 / events@royalsociety.org

Location   

The Royal Society
6-9 Carlton House Terrace
London
SW1Y 5AG

Map and travel information available

This panel discussion followed up a joint British Academy/Royal Society conference on 'Talent and Autism', held on 29-30 September 2008. Further information on conference