Mirrored Recognition of Others But Not Self in a Patient With Probable Alzheimer Dementia

A 77-year-old retired primary school teacher with probable Alzheimer dementia diagnosed after 2 years of progressive short-term memory loss and predominant hippocampal atrophy on magnetic resonance imaging of the brain became frequently puzzled and astonished by his reflection in the mirror. He was able to recognize others in the same reflection, as illustrated in this video with his wife.

Mirrored-self misidentification with recognition of others is associated with failure of face-selective activity in the right occipitotemporal cortex, probably causing impaired mapping of the perceived face on stored memory representations.

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