Skip to main content

Different ways of knowing - Daniel Tammet

62,166 Views

890 Questions Answered

TED Talk

Let’s Begin…

Daniel Tammet has linguistic, numerical and visual synesthesia -- meaning that his perception of words, numbers and colors are woven together into a new way of perceiving and understanding the world. The author of "Born on a Blue Day," Tammet shares his art and his passion for languages in this glimpse into his beautiful mind.

Additional Resources for you to Explore

Speaking of perception, Scott Fraser studies how humans remember crimes — and bear witness to them. In this powerful talk, which focuses on a deadly shooting at sunset, he suggests that even close-up eyewitnesses to a crime can create "memories" they could not have seen. Why? Because the brain abhors a vacuum.High-functioning autism (HFA) is a term applied to people with autism who are deemed to be cognitively "higher functioning" (IQ>70) than other people with autism. Individuals with HFA or Asperger syndrome exhibit deficits in areas of communication, emotion recognition and expression, and social interaction.There is no consensus on the definition and HFA is not a recognized diagnosis in the DSM-IV-TR or the ICD-10.The Autism Spectrum Quotient, or AQ, is a questionnaire published in 2001 by Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, UK. Consisting of fifty questions, it aims to investigate whether adults of average intelligence have symptoms of autism or one of the other autism spectrum conditions. More recently, versions of the AQ for children and adolescents have also been published.Another TED speaker, Temple Grandin, also has autism.

Next Section »

About TED Talk Lessons

TED Talk Lessons are created by TED-Ed using phenomenal TED Talks. Do you have an idea for a lesson? Create it now using any video from YouTube »

Meet The Creators

  • Speaker Daniel Tammet

More from The Way We Think