Tore,
The real authority on this subject has to be V.S. Ramachandran. In his
recent work "Phantoms in the Brain", he deals with the most bizarre visual
phenomena you can think of. He shows convincingly that some outlandish brain
disorders that most people regard as a psychiatric problem can be explained in
terms of known brain circuity.
He deals with cases of actual physical injury to various parts of the
brain and how they affect visual perception and personality. This is
absolutely the best book on the subject, highly readable, and very relevant to
the case you describe.
You want bizarre? How about Capgras' syndrome? These subjects come to
regard family memebers and close acquaintances as impostors. He rejected
Freudian interpretations involving family conflicts when he found a patient
who had suffered head trauma in a car accident and afterward claimed that his
pet poodle was an impostor and that the real Fifi was living in Brooklyn.
There are actually areas in the brain that deal specifically with the
recognition of faces, and a stroke or other trauma can render it ineffective.
This, he believes, is the more likely explanation.
There is lots more, from phantom limb syndrome to idiot savants. A very good
book.
Another good one is "Space and Sight" by M. von Senden, published in German in
1932 and in English in 1960.
--Richard
-------------------------------------------------
Tore Lund wrote:
> Nick Medford wrote:
> >
> > I'm trying to picture the reaction of your average ophthalmologist being
> > asked to see such a patient. (Is this what you mean by "vision
> > specialist"?)
>> Agreed, "vision specialist" was a rather silly term. What I had in mind
> was researchers specifically interested in the mechanics of visual depth
> perception, and most of those are not even doctors, I suppose.
>> What I have been trying to elicit is reports of unusual visual
> perspectives and possible explanations for them in terms of this or that
> model of vision. Sorry if that has not been clear.
> --
> Tore Lund <tl001 at online.no>
