AGNOSIA  [ back to Glossary Index ]
Agnosia is a disorder of recognition from injury to higher order information processing cells which, for example, translate "any human face" to a particular face (such as the face of my husband or wife) or "any garden tool" to a particular tool (such as a rake). Oliver Sachs gave a classic example of a visual agnosia in his book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." The husband's stroke left him unable to tell his wife's face apart from any other human face, but he could tell it was her when she wore an unusual hat that he had come to associate with her.