Right-Hemisphere Pathology and the Self: Delusional Misidentification and Reduplication

There are several neurological conditions that have particular relevance for the understanding of the neurobiology of the self. Patients with these disorders have neurological perturbations of the self in which brain dysfunction creates a transformation of personal significance. This chapter considers select neuropathological disorders of the self that can be grouped into two related conditions: delusional misidentification syndromes (DMS) and delusional reduplication syndromes (DRS). It focuses on the relationship between these two syndromes and the broader syndrome of confabulation, and explores how brain pathology creates misidentification or reduplication of the body and self, other persons, and places of personal significance. The chapter investigates (1) the clinical features of these syndromes; (2) the manner in which these specific conditions differ from other more general neuropathological disorders; (3) the neuroanatomical substrates of these conditions; and (4) possible explanations for these disorders.