To See but Not to See: A Case Study in Visual Agnosia

Brain damage may sometimes cause remarkably specific impairments in human behaviour. One very rare and specific impairment is the failure to recognize everyday objects by sight, a problem which is termed "visual agnosia". In this book, the authors discuss the case of a patient, John, who suffered from visual agnosia after having a stroke. John also had difficulty recognizing faces or his immediate environment. The book considers John's case from the point of view of current psychological theories of visual recognition, and from a review of other documented cases. It goes on to consider the implications of John's problems for understanding how we might normally recognize objects, drawing on investigations of his impairments. The book also includes chapters contributed by John and his wife.