We are saddened by the loss of Kim Peek who died suddenly from cardiac arrest in December 2009 at the. Kim Peek was the model author Barrow Morrow used for the original "Rain Man" script and screenplay, but the final product retained only a small part of the original story. The story of Kim Peek, and of savant syndrome generally, is a story of the brain's extraordinary neuroplasticity, and the ways in which that plasticity allows for humans to compensate for their disabilities with wondrous and spectacular abilities. An Evening with Kim Peek - Psychology Club Speaker Series. When he's home in Utah, Peek spends afternoons at the Salt Lake City Public Library poring over books, even memorizing phone books and the Cole's address directory. He also no longer reads only nonfiction, Fran Peek said, but has dabbled with some fiction, such as books by Stephen King, because that is what so many people talk about. But now, after speaking to more than two million people over the years, his father says he become calmer and is more at ease speaking in front of people. He was a shy young man with few social skills when the movie propelled him to public notice. The fame that eventually found him, must have taken. Kim Peek was classed as a mega-savant and had memorised 12,000 books, including the entire Bible, but had difficulty with ordinary tasks like getting dressed and combing his hair. Kim Peek (aka Kimputer) was known as a gentle and friendly man who above all else, loved to read books. It is likely that is why Peek has been able to memorize more than 9,000 books, his father said.īut he has lagged in other areas his motor skills developed more slowly than those of his peers.įran Peek doesn't need the test results to know much has changed for his son in the last 16 years. Kim Peek, the e genius who inspired Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man, died from a heart attack at the age of 58. Later tests showed his brain hemispheres are not separated, forming a single, large ''data storage'' area. When Kim Peek was born, doctors found a water blister on the right side of his skull, similar to hydrocephalus. He came to the attention of NASA researchers at the Center for Bioinformatics Space Life Sciences at the NASA-AMES Research Center when he spoke in late October at a Rotary Club in central California. As Barry Morrow once said of Peek, I don’t think anybody could spend five minutes with Kim and not come away with a slightly altered view of themselves, the world, and our potential as human beings. He was the inspiration for the character Raymond Babbitt. Known as a 'megasavant', he had an exceptional memory, but he also experienced social difficulties, possibly resulting from a developmental disability related to congenital brain abnormalities. "The goal is to measure what happens in Kim's brain when he expresses things and when he thinks about them,'' said his father, Fran. Kim Peek eventually died of a heart attack in 2009 at just 58. Laurence Kim Peek (Novem December 19, 2009) was an American savant.
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