Intellect and Memory

Throughout our course material thus far, I've been struck by the regularity with which Sacks (and Luria, in Man with a Shattered World) describes almost every patient as having had a high intellect before whatever condition afflicted them occurred. It's unclear to me whether this is true, and perhaps the most precocious of brains are the most susceptible to damage or change, or if this is a fabrication, a stretching of the truth on Sacks' part in order to make a more compelling story. Perhaps it is simply that once a mind is gripped by Parkinsonism or sensory deficit or any of the myriad conditions we have discussed, the clarity of functioning beforehand seems all the more extraordinary and precious in contrast.

In The Mind of a Mnemonist, however, we have the story of a man whose memory functions much higher than any normal human being, but who also "[strikes] one as a disorganized and rather dull-witted person" (Luria 65). Despite-in fact, because of-the rich fabric of S.'s inner life and imagery, he has difficulty understanding a simple story. What, then, can be said of the relationship between intellect and memory? S.'s condition is both demonstrable to others and unknowable by them, as is the inner state of the Parkinsonian patient. How are we meant to measure the capacities and faculties of others, and what is the standard against which they should be set?