Journal

The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

[Vol.32 No.1 contents]
Japanese/English

Full Text of this Article
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ArticleTitle The mechanism that believe falsity to be truth: the investigation of the delusional misidentification syndromes based on the clinical neuropsychology
Language J
AuthorList Yuki Takakura1)2), Mika Otsuki3), Yoshitsugu Nakagawa4)
Affiliation 1)Department of Rehabilitation, Sapporo Shuyukai Hospital
2)Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University
3)Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University
4)Department of Communication Disorders, School of Rehabilitation Science, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido
Publication Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 32 (1), 31-43, 2016
Received
Accepted
Abstract In this article, we discuss about a specific form of delusional misidentification symptoms, including a peculiar phenomena of reduplication of electric functions in one electric device. The patient was a 53-year-old right-handed male native speaker of Japanese, and employed as a general director for a cooperative. He had suffered neurosurgical clipping due to ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm. Brain MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) demonstrated the restricted lesion in the basal forebrain, and bilateral ventral prefrontal cortex. Standardized examinations of language, intelligence, and frontal lobe function revealed the patient's performances were within normal range. Nonetheless, he presented significant impairment of memory with spontaneous confabulation. And the most striking misidentification of him was the certain beliefs that his electric razor has the mobile phone functions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanism of the delusional misidentification syndromes based on the view of clinical neuropsychology and pluralism. The nature of the mobile phone functions can be conceived as "the relationship between humans and their close relatives, companions, colleagues, and its history". Therefore, we suggest the possibility that the failure of an appropriate "familiarity" corresponding to the persons with whom interact by using mobile phone might have played a crucial role in his delusional beliefs.
Furthermore, we propose that the causes of his incorrigibility related to his delusions was implicated not only in the construction of episodic false memory but also in the specific false memory in his semantic memory. Finally, we point out the possibility that the specific form of the delusional misidentification symptoms such as this patient can be explored by the clinical neuropsychological approach.
Keywords delusional misidentification syndromes, neuropathologies of the self, reduplicative paramnesia, familiarity, false memory

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