親友『レインマン』

Main Man, Rain Man

映画『レインマン』の主人公は自閉症サヴァンであり，利己的な弟との絆が描かれる。印象的なのは彼らの道中であり，互いへの共感と思いやりが乏しかった兄弟が，時を共にして学び，関係を深めていく。本稿では，高機能の自閉症サヴァンに見られる視覚的および数学的な把握力について例を挙げる。神経科学から自閉スペクトラム症のメカニズムについて仮説をいくつか紹介し，それらの意義と研究の方向性についても議論する。

Abstract

The titular character of the movie Rain Man is an autistic savant, and the movie centers on his relationship with his non-autistic but selfish brother. Particularly memorable scenes involve the brothers' travels; they initially lacked empathy and understanding toward each other, but they learn and expand their relationship as they spend time together. In this manuscript, I provide examples of truly amazing visual and mathematic abilities among some high-functioning autistic savants, and I introduce several hypotheses regarding the mechanisms that may underlie autism spectrum disorder, from a neuroscience perspective. The significance of these hypotheses and the current research directions are also discussed.