Abstract
We report a case of a blind woman, M.N., who experienced the Capgras delusion. She thought that her pet cat had been replaced by a replica which was “ill-intentioned” towards her. M.N.'s case shows that the basis of the Capgras delusion cannot lie exclusively in damage to the visual system. However, testing of M.N.'s auditory recognition abilities revealed a deficit in the recognition of familiar voices. This impairment is consistent with the view that the Capgras delusion may arise in connection with damage to recognition mechanisms, and parallels findings of face processing impairments in sighted Capgras patients.
Highlights
The Capgras delusion involves the belief that familiar people have been replaced by "dummies" or impostors
Lewis (1987), Anderson (1988), and Ellis and Young (1990) have independently suggested that the basis of the Capgras delusion may lie in damage to neuroanatomical pathways responsible for appropriate emotional reactions to familiar visual stimuli, so that "a correct perception fails to evoke the normal affective memories tied to it" (Lewis, 1987, p. 120)
We report here a case of a blind woman, M.N., who experienced the Capgras delusion
Summary
We report a case ofa blind woman, M.N., who experienced the Capgras delusion. She thought that her pet cat had been replaced by a replica which was "iII-intentioned" towards her. M.N.'s case shows that the basis of the Capgras delusion cannot lie exclusively in damage to the visual system. Testing of M.N.'s auditory recognition abilities revealed a deficit in the recognition of familiar voices. This impairment is consistent with the view that the Capgras delusion may arise in connection with damage to recognition mechanisms, and parallels findings of face processing impairments in sighted Capgras patients
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