Tactile restoration of familiarity in Capgras syndrome following right hemorrhagic stroke: Lesion mapping, Disconnectome analysis, and lesion network characterization of multisensory person recognition.
Lesley Ponraj, Tharan Suresh, Shaik Atif Iqbal Ahmed et al.
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
Case in brief
A patient developed Capgras syndrome after a right hemispheric hemorrhagic stroke, believing that his wife and son were impostors despite recognizing that they looked identical to themselves. Object, semantic, and structural face recognition were preserved, but emotion recognition was impaired. Seeing or hearing his son did not produce recognition or galvanic skin response (GSR) responses. Tactile interaction, however, restored correct identification and elicited robust GSR responses. Lesion and network analyses showed disruption of a right-lateralized network connecting face-processing regions with limbic and frontal systems involved in familiarity and belief evaluation.
What made this case unusual
Familiarity with the patient’s son returned during tactile interaction, despite failing with visual or auditory presentation, and this was accompanied by robust GSR responses.
Diagnostic / clinical pearl
In Capgras syndrome, preserved structural face recognition can coexist with impaired affective familiarity; this case also shows that tactile input may transiently support recognition when visual and auditory cues do not.