Daniel Tammet is the author of two books, Born on a Blue Day and Embracing the Wide Sky, which comes out this month. He’s also a linguist and holds the European record for reciting the first 22,514 decimal points of the mathematical constant Pi. Mind Matters editor Jonah Lehrer chats with Tammet about how his memory works, why the IQ test is overrated, and a possible explanation for extraordinary feats of creativity.

LEHRER: Your recent memoir, Born on a Blue Day, documented your life as an autistic savant. You describe, for example, how you are able to quickly learn new languages, and remember scenes from years earlier in cinematic detail. Are you ever surprised by your own abilities?

TAMMET: I have always thought of abstract information—numbers for example—in visual, dynamic form. Numbers assume complex, multi-dimensional shapes in my head that I manipulate to form the solution to sums, or compare when determining whether they are prime or not.

For languages, I do something similar in terms of thinking of words as belonging to clusters of meaning so that each piece of vocabulary makes sense according to its place in my mental architecture for that language. In this way I can easily discern relationships between words, which helps me to remember them.

In my mind, numbers and words are far more than squiggles of ink on a page. They have form, color, texture and so on. They come alive to me, which is why as a young child I thought of them as my “friends.” I think this is why my memory is very deep, because the information is not static. I say in my book that I do not crunch numbers (like a computer). Rather, I dance with them.

None of this is particularly surprising for me. I have always thought in this way so it seems entirely natural. What I do find surprising is that other people do not think in the same way. I find it hard to imagine a world where numbers and words are not how I experience them!

LEHRER: In Embracing the Wide Sky you criticize the IQ test as a vast oversimplification of intelligence. You write: "There is no such thing as proofs of intelligence, only intelligence." Could you explain what you mean by that?

TAMMET: When I was a child, my behavior was far from being what most people would label “intelligent.” It was often limited, repetitive and anti-social. I could not do many of the things that most people take for granted, such as looking someone in the eye or deciphering a person’s body language, and only acquired these skills with much effort over time. I also struggled to learn many of the techniques for spelling or doing sums taught in class because they did not match my own style of thinking.

I know from my own experience that there is much more to “intelligence” than an IQ number. In fact, I hesitate to believe that any system could really reflect the complexity and uniqueness of one person’s mind, or meaningfully describe the nature of his or her potential.

The bell curve distribution for IQ scores tells us that two thirds of the world’s population have an IQ somewhere between 85 and 115. This means that some four and a half billion people around the globe share just 31 numerical values (“He’s a 94,” “You’re a 110,” ”I’m a 103”), equivalent to 150 million people worldwide sharing the same IQ score. This sounds a lot to me like astrology, which lumps everyone into one of twelve signs of the zodiac.

Even if we cannot measure and assign precise values to it in any “scientific” way, I do very much think that “intelligence” exists and that it varies in the actions of each person. The concept is a useful and important one, for scientists and educators alike. My objection is to thinking that any ‘test’ of a person’s intelligence is up to the task. Rather we should focus on ensuring that the fundamentals (literacy, etc.) are well taught, and that each child’s diverse talents are encouraged and nourished.

LEHRER: You also describe some recent scientific studies on what happens inside the brain when we learn a second language. Do you think this recent research should change the way we teach languages?

TAMMET: Thanks to the advances in modern scanning technology we know more today than ever before just how what’s happening inside the brain when we’re learning a language. That we can speak at all is nothing less than an astonishing cognitive achievement.

Learning a second language, particularly when that language is not one that the person has to use on a regular basis, is an extremely difficult task. I think it is a mistake to underestimate the challenges of it. Students should be aware that the difficulties they will face are inherent in what they are doing, and not any failing on their part.

One of the most interesting scientific discoveries about how language works (and how it could be taught) is “phonaesthesia”—that certain sounds have a meaningful relationship to the things they describe. For example, in many languages the vowel sound “i” is associated with smallness—little, tiny, petit, ni?o, and so on—whereas the sound “a” or “o” is associated with largeness—grand, gross, gordo, etc. Such links have been found in many of the world’s languages. These findings strongly imply that learners would benefit from learning to draw on their own natural intuitions to help them understand and remember many of the foreign words that they come across.

Another finding, by cognitive psychologists Lera Boroditsky, Lauren A. Schmidt, and Webb Phillips, might also offer a useful insight into an important part of learning a second language. The researchers asked German and Spanish native speakers to think of adjectives to describe a range of objects, such as a key. The German speakers, for whom the word “key” is masculine, gave adjectives such as “hard,” “heavy,” “jagged,” and “metal,” whereas the Spanish speakers, for whom “key” is feminine, gave responses like : “golden,” “l(fā)ittle,” ”lovely” and “shiny.” This result suggests that native speakers of languages that have gendered nouns remember the different categorization for each by attending to differing characteristics, depending on whether the noun is “male” or ”female.” It is plausible that second-language learners could learn to perceive various nouns in a similar way to help them remember the correct gender.

Regardless of how exactly a person learns a second language, we do know for sure that it is very good for your brain. There is good evidence that language learning helps individuals to abstract information, focus attention, and may even help ward off age-related declines in mental performance.

LEHRER: You advocate a theory of creativity defined by a cognitive property you call "hyper-connectivity." Could you explain?

TAMMET: I am unusually creative—from visualizing numerical landscapes composed of random strings of digits to the invention of my own words and concepts in numerous languages. Where does this creativity come from?

My brain has developed a little differently from most other people’s. Aside from my high-functioning autism, I also suffered from epileptic seizures as a young child. In my book, I propose a link between my brain’s functioning and my creative abilities based on the property of ‘hyper-connectivity’.

In most people, the brain’s major functions are performed separately and not allowed to interfere with one another. Scientists have found that in some brain disorders however, including autism and epilepsy, cross-communication can occur between normally distinct brain regions. My theory is that rare forms of creative imagination are the result of an extraordinary convergence of normally disconnected thoughts, memories, feelings and ideas. Indeed, such “hyper-connectivity” within the brain may well lie at the heart of all forms of exceptional creativity.

LEHRER: How were you able to recite from memory the first 22,514 numbers of Pi? And do you have advice for people looking to improve their own memory?

TAMMET: As I have already mentioned, numbers to me have their own shapes, colors and textures. Various studies have long demonstrated that being able to visualize information makes it easier to remember. In addition, my number shapes are semantically meaningful, which is to say that I am able to visualize their relationship to other numbers. A simple example would be the number 37, which is lumpy like oatmeal, and 111 which is similarly lumpy but also round like the number three (being 37 x 3). Where you might see an endless string of random digits when looking at the decimals of Pi, my mind is able to “chunk” groups of these numbers spontaneously into meaningful visual images that constitute their own hierarchy of associations.

Using your imagination is one very good way to improve your own memory. For example, actors who have to remember hundreds or even thousands of lines of a script do so by actively analysing them and imagining the motivations and goals of their characters. Many also imagine having to explain the meaning of their lines to another person, which has been shown to significantly improve their subsequent recall.

Here is another tip from my book. Researchers have found that you are more likely to remember something if the place or situation in which you are trying to recall the information bears some resemblance—color or smell, for example—to where you originally learned it. A greater awareness therefore of the context in which we acquire a particular piece of information can help improve our ability to remember it later on.

Are you a scientist? Have you recently read a peer-reviewed paper that you want to write about? Then contact Mind Matters editor Jonah Lehrer, the science writer behind the blog The Frontal Cortex and the book Proust Was a Neuroscientist. His next book, How We Decide, will be available in February 2009.

Daniel Tamet是兩部書的作者——《生于蔚藍的日子》和本月要出版的《擁抱廣闊天空》。他精通數(shù)門語言，同時，保持著背誦圓周率的小數(shù)點后22514位的歐洲紀(jì)錄?！缎闹菃栴}》的編輯Jonah Lehrer 將與Tammet聊聊關(guān)于他的記憶是如何工作的，為什么IQ測驗被高估了以及他對創(chuàng)造力的超常技藝的可能解釋。

Lehere：你最近的回憶錄《生于蔚藍的日子》將你的生活描述為一個自閉學(xué)者。例如，你描述了你如何能快速學(xué)會幾種新語言，并且記住很久以前像影片場景般的生活細節(jié)。你曾經(jīng)對你自己的能力感到驚訝嗎？

Tammet：我用視覺的，動態(tài)的方式考慮抽象的信息，比如數(shù)字。我操縱著的數(shù)字在我腦中呈現(xiàn)出復(fù)雜，多面的形狀以便找到算算數(shù)的方法，或者當(dāng)決定它們是否是質(zhì)數(shù)時以便比較。

對于語言，就將單詞看作屬于意義的群集看來，我做的事情很相似為的是根據(jù)對那種語言的詞匯在的我的心靈建筑的位置理解每一條詞匯的。用這種方法，我能夠輕而易舉地看清單詞間的聯(lián)系。這幫我記住他們。

在我的腦海中，數(shù)字和單詞遠不是紙上的墨水印。他們有形狀，顏色，材質(zhì)等等。它們對我來說是活生生的，這就是為什么在我是個小孩的時候，我把它們看作是我的“朋友”。我想這也是為什么我的記憶如此之深刻，因為信息不是靜態(tài)的。我在我的書中說我并不吞吐數(shù)字（就像一臺計算機）。而是，與它們共舞。

這一切都不令我驚訝。我時刻都是這么想的，所以這看起來很自然。真正使我感到吃驚的是其他人并不也用這種方式思考。我發(fā)現(xiàn)很難想象一個世界，那里數(shù)字和單詞都不是我所經(jīng)歷的那樣！

Lehrer:在《擁抱廣闊天空》中，你批評IQ測驗是一種對智力的過分簡化。你寫到：“智力是存在的，但它是不可測試的?！蹦隳芙忉屜履愕囊馑际鞘裁矗?/p>

Tammet：當(dāng)我是小孩的時候，我的行為遠不是大多數(shù)人貼為“智力”的那些。我的行為是受限的，反復(fù)的和反社會的。我不能做到多大多數(shù)人認為理所當(dāng)然的事情，就像對視進行交流或是解析一個人的肢體語言，并且我需要花很多努力與精力習(xí)得這些技巧。因為它們不合我的思維風(fēng)格，所以，課堂上，我要與學(xué)習(xí)許多教授的拼寫和做算術(shù)的技巧做斗爭。

我從我的經(jīng)歷得知“智力”遠比IQ分數(shù)有更多的意義。事實上，我對任何能真實反映一個人的大腦的復(fù)雜性和獨特性或者有意義地描述他/她的潛在本質(zhì)的體系將信將疑。

IQ分數(shù)的正態(tài)分布圖告訴我們世界上三分二的人智力在85-115之間。這意味著約45億人分享著31個數(shù)值，（他是94，你是110，我是103），等于1.5億人分享相同的IQ值。這聽起來讓我覺得像是占星術(shù)，把每個人分入黃道十二宮中。

即使我們不能用任何“科學(xué)的”方法測量和分配精密的數(shù)值，但我確實相信“智力”的存在而且我相信“智力”在每個人的行為中變化著。這是個對科學(xué)家和教育者一類的人有用的，也是重要的概念。我反對的是認為人的智力的任何“測驗”取決于這份任務(wù)。相對而言，我們應(yīng)該集中精力于確?；A(chǔ)（文學(xué)，等等）要打扎實，鼓勵和培養(yǎng)每個孩子不同的天賦。

Lehrer：你也談到了一些關(guān)于當(dāng)我們學(xué)習(xí)第二語言時，大腦內(nèi)在發(fā)生什么的最新的科學(xué)研究。你認為最新的研究應(yīng)該改變我們教授語言的方法嗎？

Tammet：由于現(xiàn)代掃描技術(shù)的提升，我們今天比起曾經(jīng)知道得更多關(guān)于，當(dāng)我們學(xué)習(xí)一門語言時，我們的大腦是如何進行工作的。我們?nèi)祟悤f話本身，就是一項認知上的驚人成就。

學(xué)習(xí)第二外語，特別是當(dāng)那門語言不是人定期要使用的，那會是特別困難的任務(wù)。我想低估這樣的挑戰(zhàn)是錯誤的。學(xué)生應(yīng)該注意到他們將面對的困難是他們正在做的事所固有的，并且這不是他們的短處。

最有趣的關(guān)于語言如何工作（和教學(xué)是如何可能的）的科學(xué)研究之一是“音義聯(lián)覺”——確定的聲音和一個它所描述的事物有一個有意義的聯(lián)系。舉例來說，在許多語言中，元音“i” 與小相聯(lián)系，如little，tiny，petit，nino等等——反之，元音“a”，“o”與大有關(guān)，如grand，gross，gordo等等。像這樣的聯(lián)系已經(jīng)在許多語言中發(fā)現(xiàn)。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)強烈地暗示學(xué)習(xí)者會從學(xué)習(xí)聽從他們的自然直覺來幫助他們理解和記憶許多他們遇到的外國單詞中獲益。

認知心理學(xué)家Lera Boroditsky，Lauren A.Schmidt 和Webb Phillips的另一項發(fā)現(xiàn)可能提供一種對學(xué)習(xí)第二語言的重要部分的深刻理解。研究者要求德國和西班牙當(dāng)?shù)厝丝紤]用形容詞來描述一系列的物品，如鑰匙。德國人，對他們而言，鑰匙是陽性的，他們給出了諸如：“硬的”，“重的”，“帶齒的”，“金屬的”，相反，西班牙人，對他們而言，鑰匙是陰性的，給出了：“金的”，“小的”，“可愛的”，“發(fā)光的”這樣的回答。這個結(jié)果暗示帶性狀的語言的當(dāng)?shù)厥褂谜哂涀〔煌拿總€詞的類型，這通過區(qū)分特征，依靠這個詞是“陽性”或“陰性”。第二語言學(xué)習(xí)者能夠?qū)W習(xí)理解不同的名詞也是用相同的方法來幫助記憶正確的性狀，這似乎是真的。

無論一個人學(xué)第二語言學(xué)得多精細，我們確實相信這對你的大腦有好處。有明確的證據(jù)顯示語言學(xué)習(xí)幫助個體獲取信息，提高注意以及幫助避免在與年齡有關(guān)的精神表現(xiàn)方面的衰退。

Lehrer：你呼吁一種定義為認知特性的創(chuàng)造力理論，你稱之為“超鏈接性”。你能解釋下嗎？

Tammet：我時常很有創(chuàng)造力——從視覺化由隨意的數(shù)位串組成的數(shù)值圖景到在許多語言中發(fā)明我自己的用語和概念。這種創(chuàng)造力從何而來？

我的大腦開發(fā)與大多數(shù)其他人的不同。除了我的高功能的自閉癥外，我小時候也患有癲癇癥。在我的書中，我提出一種在我的大腦功能和我的創(chuàng)造能力之間的聯(lián)系，那是基于“超鏈接性”的性質(zhì)。

大多數(shù)人，大腦的主要功能是分散工作的，并且不允許互相干擾。科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)在一些大腦障礙中，包括自閉癥和癲癇，交叉通訊能夠正常地出現(xiàn)在不同的大腦區(qū)域間。我的理論是創(chuàng)造性想象的罕見形式是一種超常的由通常不連貫的思維、記憶、感覺、和觀念收斂的結(jié)果。確實，腦中這樣的“超鏈接性”是所有不同形式的獨特創(chuàng)造力的關(guān)鍵。

Lehrer：你是如何能背誦圓周率小數(shù)點后22514位數(shù)的？你有沒有給大家的提高記憶力的一些建議？

Tammet：正如我已經(jīng)談到的，數(shù)字對我來說有他們自己的形狀，顏色和質(zhì)地。一些研究已經(jīng)證明了視覺化信息的能力有助于記憶更簡單。另外，我的數(shù)字形狀是語義上的意義，也就是說我有能力視覺化他們與其他數(shù)字的關(guān)系。一個簡單的實例，如37是燕麥片一樣的團塊狀，111也是團塊但也像數(shù)字3一樣圓（是37×3）。（譯者，大概明白了#_$）當(dāng)你看著圓周率你可能看到一個無限的隨機數(shù)串，我的大腦有能力同時“吞吐”幾組這些數(shù)字形成有意義的可視圖像，構(gòu)造它們自身的結(jié)合等級。

使用你的想象力是提高你的記憶的一種有效途徑。舉例來說，演員被迫記住數(shù)以百計，甚至千計的腳本臺詞就是通過積極地分析它們并且想象他們角色的動機和目標(biāo)。許多人也想象向別人解釋他們的臺詞，這顯示出隨后回憶上的重大提高。

另一個我書里的小建議。研究人員已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)你更可能記住一些東西，如果你正在回憶的信息所在的位置或地方有些相似性——顏色或氣味，例如，與你原來學(xué)習(xí)它的地方。因此，更加注意那些我們擁有特別信息的內(nèi)容會幫助提高我們的能力日后記住它。

你是個科學(xué)家嗎？ 你最近是否讀了一篇經(jīng)過同行評議的論文并想對其說幾句？ 那么請聯(lián)系Mind Matters（心智問題）的編輯Jonah Lehrer，他是博客The Frontal Cortex和《普魯斯特是個神經(jīng)學(xué)家》（Proust Was a Neuroscientist.）一書的作者。他的下一本書《我們?nèi)绾螞Q定》將于2009年1月發(fā)行。