Abstract: | Specific outstanding abilities are found at all levels of general cognitive functioning, and are independent of it Furthermore, people who are gifted in a particular area but differ widely in general intelligence nevertheless seem to utilise similar mental processes and structures. Thus idiot‐savant musicians remember, as well as generate, musical patterns derived from familiar musical rules, and their ability is not based on rote memory. Calendri‐cal calculators use the rules and structures on which the Gregorian Calendar is based to calculate dates rapidly. Children with low intelligence but outstanding drawing ability need less visual information for the identification of pictures than those who cannot draw but have high IQ's. |