Capgras, Mirror Agnosia, Synesthesia, V.S.Ramachandran
Patients with Capgras syndrome think that their parents (or people whom they know well) are imposters. V.S.Ramachandran’s (Ramachandran et al) article “Capgras Syndrome: A Novel Probe for Understanding the Neural Representation of the Identity and Familiarity of Persons -William Hirstein and V. S. Ramachandran. Proceedings: Biological Sciences, Vol. 264, No. 1380 (Mar. 22, 1997), pp. 437-444 (article consists of 8 pages)” is an interesting read for anyone who is interested.
V.S.Ramachandran’s book “Phantoms in the Brain” is one of the most interesting books I’ve read. It’s an excellent introduction to some of the brain’s working and is an easy read. The illustrations are excellent. The book is not just about neuroscience but also conscience and art. Carl Sagan’s “Dragons of Eden” got me started and made me read more in this area. Both the books are worth reading.
There are some articles by Ramachandran et al related to Mirror agnosia, anosognosia, Synesthesia are available freely on the internet.
Also of interest are BBC’s Reith Lectures 2003, which contain a series of lectures by Ramachandran on the subject “The Emerging Mind”.
