Capgras Syndrome and Other Delusions of Misidentification: a Summary of the Psychological, Psychiatric, and Neurophysiological Literature on DMI

Purpose of Review This paper synthesizes the extensive psychological, psychiatric, and neurophysiological literature on delusions of misidentification (DMI), including the well-known Capgras and Fregoli delusions. Recent Findings By considering DMI from these many angles, this paper illuminates how disturbances in creating and maintaining mental representations of self and others, however varied the etiology, result in the wide range of phenotypic expression seen in this complex and fascinating set of delusions. The companion article in this issue (Garrett and Leighton) more fully elaborates the emerging alignment between recent neuropsychological models of DMI and modern psychodynamic theories, further enhancing our understanding of the striking nature of delusional misidentifications. Summary DMI violate some of the basic attributes of identity of people, objects, and places that allow humans to navigate the physical and social worlds. As such, DMI reveal much about the fundamental workings of human cognition and affect: sensation, perception, prediction, hierarchical inference, belief evaluation, and memory.