Is it possible that what specific delusions a patient develops after their brain damage correlates with their experiences before the brain damage? Maybe paranoid schizophrenics in the US tend to think the CIA is after them, but those in Soviet Russia used to think the KGB was? How would these delusions have manifested in the past, before any such organizations existed? Perhaps some of them convinced themselves that God’s wrath was being brought down upon them, or that Satan was haunting them.
Also, does Capgras delusion apply to everyone the patient has an emotional reaction to, or just their spouse/parents? If you were a very political person, and felt great pride/joy when looking at your favored political leader, and then you got Capgras delusion, would you assume they were replaced by aliens? What about your teachers, doctors, and friends?
Also, does Capgras delusion apply to everyone the patient has an emotional reaction to, or just their spouse/parents? If you were a very political person, and felt great pride/joy when looking at your favored political leader, and then you got Capgras delusion, would you assume they were replaced by aliens? What about your teachers, doctors, and friends?
If there’s been any research into this I haven’t been able to find it; but a few people outside academia seem to have associated the “Paul is dead” meme from the Beatles era with the Capgras delusion. There’s also a number of conspiracy theories that seem to fit the general pattern, including David Icke’s reptilian humanoid theory.
Also, do you know if Capgras delusion only wipes away all previous emotions you associated with faces, or if it also makes it impossible to form new emotions related to other faces? What if, for some reason, the spouse decided to go along with the charade that they were a different person, and managed to convince the Capgras patient to stay married to them anyway? Would the patient eventually form an emotional connection the way normal people do when they meet, date, and marry someone? Or if a Capgras patient had a child after the brain damage, would they associate their child’s face with emotions while still considering their spouse and parents to be imposters?
There is alleged to have been a Capgras patient who wasn’t very happy with her marriage beforehand, but decided she liked the “imposter” much better. No cite, I think it was in a TED talk.
Maybe paranoid schizophrenics in the US tend to think the CIA is after them, but those in Soviet Russia used to think the KGB was?
It seems almost certain. In the least one should know about CIA’s existence to have that sort of delusion.
Also, does Capgras delusion apply to everyone the patient has an emotional reaction to, or just their spouse/parents? If you were a very political person, and felt great pride/joy when looking at your favored political leader, and then you got Capgras delusion, would you assume they were replaced by aliens? What about your teachers, doctors, and friends?
This is a great question to test the emotional reaction hypothesis. I would add: what about their enemies? A negative emotional response is still an emotional response (well, maybe, I wouldn’t be so surprised if negative and positive emotions were each associated with a different part of the brain).
Is it possible that what specific delusions a patient develops after their brain damage correlates with their experiences before the brain damage? Maybe paranoid schizophrenics in the US tend to think the CIA is after them, but those in Soviet Russia used to think the KGB was? How would these delusions have manifested in the past, before any such organizations existed? Perhaps some of them convinced themselves that God’s wrath was being brought down upon them, or that Satan was haunting them.
Also, does Capgras delusion apply to everyone the patient has an emotional reaction to, or just their spouse/parents? If you were a very political person, and felt great pride/joy when looking at your favored political leader, and then you got Capgras delusion, would you assume they were replaced by aliens? What about your teachers, doctors, and friends?
If there’s been any research into this I haven’t been able to find it; but a few people outside academia seem to have associated the “Paul is dead” meme from the Beatles era with the Capgras delusion. There’s also a number of conspiracy theories that seem to fit the general pattern, including David Icke’s reptilian humanoid theory.
Interesting; thanks.
Also, do you know if Capgras delusion only wipes away all previous emotions you associated with faces, or if it also makes it impossible to form new emotions related to other faces? What if, for some reason, the spouse decided to go along with the charade that they were a different person, and managed to convince the Capgras patient to stay married to them anyway? Would the patient eventually form an emotional connection the way normal people do when they meet, date, and marry someone? Or if a Capgras patient had a child after the brain damage, would they associate their child’s face with emotions while still considering their spouse and parents to be imposters?
There is alleged to have been a Capgras patient who wasn’t very happy with her marriage beforehand, but decided she liked the “imposter” much better. No cite, I think it was in a TED talk.
It seems almost certain. In the least one should know about CIA’s existence to have that sort of delusion.
This is a great question to test the emotional reaction hypothesis. I would add: what about their enemies? A negative emotional response is still an emotional response (well, maybe, I wouldn’t be so surprised if negative and positive emotions were each associated with a different part of the brain).