Unilaterally felt ''presences'': The neuropsychiatry of one's invisible doppelganger

Author(s): Regard, M., Landis, T.

Journal/Book: Neuropsych Neuropsych Behav N. 1996; 9: 227 East Washington Sq, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Lippincott-Raven Publ. 114-122.

Abstract: The ''feeling of a presence'' (FOP) refers to the illusion of being accompanied by an invisible being. The neurological mechanism underlying the illusion seems to be a projection of postural and kinaesthetic parts of the body scheme into extracorporal space. Its visual analogue is heautoscopy, i.e., the doppelganger experience, and the FOP is, thus, best conceived as an awareness of one's invisible doppelganger. We present a tabular review of 27 published cases of unilateral FOP after brain damage. We also report four new cases. Of the total 31 cases, in 19 (61%) the ''presence'' was lateralized to the right side of the body. Of the 12 cases with unilateral brain lesions, eight were in the left hemisphere and four in the right. It is concluded that the accepted notion of a general association between the FOP and right hemisphere dysfunction is incorrect. Prospective clinical studies will have to establish the reliability of the slight right hemispace bias we found for the appearance of the invisible doppelganger. Procedures known to elicit an illusory dislocation of the body scheme may further help to elucidate the neurological underpinnings of the FOP as well as of other forms of autoscopic reduplication.

Note: Review P Brugger, Univ Zurich Hosp, Dept Neurol, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland

Keyword(s): autoscopic phenomena; body schema; (unilateral) somaesthetic illusions; OF-BODY EXPERIENCES; HEMIANOPIC FIELD; HALLUCINATIONS; DEATH; SENSITIVITY; PERSONALITY; PATHOLOGY; HEAD

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