Background: Reduplicative paramnesia (RP) is a content-specific delusional misidentification syndrome (DMS) which has received little attention in the research literature relative to other DMS. RP is thought to result from an organic rather than psychiatric cause distinguishing it from other DMS. Our systematic review examines the research literature investigating the prevalence, symptomatology and potential neurologic mechanisms underlying RP. Sampling and Methods: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library were searched (from 1966 to February 10, 2012) with the reference lists of relevant articles examined. Case reports, clinical studies and post-mortem studies focusing on, or referring to, RP were included. Results: There is a paucity of literature regarding the potential mechanisms underlying the psychological, cognitive and neurological aspects of RP. The available literature is limited by the lack of systematic clinical studies and in vivo investigations with current findings remaining only speculative. However, there does appear to be a consensus that RP may have a neurologic rather than psychiatric cause and that right and bifrontal lesions as well as the cognitive dissonance associated with memory, visuospatial and impaired conceptual integration are common factors in RP presentation. Conclusions: This area requires further extensive systematic research with supplementary in vivo data. Current studies suggest that focal lesions within the frontal lobe may account for the onset of RP.

Keywords:
Reduplicative paramnesia, Delusional misidentification syndromes, Neurology
1.
Pick A: On reduplicative paramnesia. Brain 1903;26:242–267.
2.
Förstl H, Beats B: Charles Bonnet’s description of Cotard’s delusion and reduplicative paramnesia in an elderly patient (1788). Br J Psychiatry 1992;160:416–418.
3.
Cotard J: Du délire hypocondriaque dans une forme grave de la mélancolie anxieuse. Ann Med Psychol (Paris) 1880;4:168–174.
4.
Head H: Aphasia and Kindred Disorders. London: Cambridge University Press. 1926.
5.
Paterson A, Zangwill O: Recovery of spatial orientation in the post-traumatic confusional state. Brain 1944;67:54–68.
6.
Benson DF, Gardner H, Meadows JC: Reduplicative paramnesia. Neurology. 1976;26:147–151.
7.
Retterstol N: Paranoid psychoses with hypochondriac delusions as the main delusion. A personal follow-up investigation. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1968;44:334–353.
8.
Fishbain DA: The frequency of Capgras delusions in a psychiatric emergency service. Psychopathology 1987;20:42–47.
9.
Hakim H, Verma NP, Greiffenstein MF: Pathogenesis of reduplicative paramnesia. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1988;51:839–841.
10.
Pisani A, Marra C, Silveri MC: Anatomical and psychological mechanism of reduplicative misidentification syndromes. Neurol Sci 2000;21:324–328.
11.
Malloy PF, Richardson ED: The frontal lobes and content-specific delusions. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1994;6:455–466.
12.
Joseph AB, O’Leary DH, Kurland R, et al: Bilateral anterior cortical atrophy and subcortical atrophy in reduplicative paramnesia: a case-control study of computed tomography in 10 patients. Can J Psychiatry 1999;44:685–689.
13.
Eimer M, Gosling A, Duchaine B: Electrophysiological markers of covert face recognition in developmental prosopagnosia. Brain 2012;135:542–554.
14.
Chechlacz M, Rotshtein P, Hansen PC, Riddoch JM, Deb S, Humphreys GW: The neural underpinings of simultanagnosia: disconnecting the visuospatial attention network. J Cogn Neurosci 2012;24:718–735.
15.
Box O, Laing H, Kopelman M: The evolution of spontaneous confabulation, delusional misidentification and a related delusion in a case of severe head injury. Neurocase 1999;5:251–262.
16.
Mattioli F, Miozzo A, Vignolo LA: Confabulation and delusional misidentification: a four year follow-up study. Cortex 1999;35:413–422.
17.
DeLuca J, Diamond BJ: Aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery: a review of neuroanatomical and neuropsychological sequelae. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 1995;17:100–121.
18.
Breier JI, Adair JC, Gold M, Fennell EB, Gilmore RL, Heilman KM: Dissociation of anosognosia for hemiplegia and aphasia during left-hemisphere anesthesia. Neurology 1995;45:65–67.
19.
Melzack R: Phantom limbs and the concept of a neuromatrix. Trends Neurosci 1990;13:88–92.
20.
Mikorey M: Phantom and Doppelgänger. Munich, J.F. Lehmanns, 1952.
21.
Brugger P, Regard M, Landis T: Illusory reduplication of one’s own body: phenomenology and classification of autoscopic phenomena. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 1997;2:19–38.
22.
Alexander MP, Stuss DT, Benson DF: Capgras syndrome: a reduplicative phenomenon. Neurology 1979;29:334–339.
23.
Cummings JL: Organic delusions. Br J Psychiatry 1985;46:184–197.
24.
Forstl H, Almeida OP, Owen AM, et al: Psychiatric, neurological and medical aspects of misidentification syndromes: a review of 260 cases. Psychol Med 1991;21:905–910.
25.
Benson DF, Djenderedjian A, Miller BL, et al: Neural basis of confabulation. Neurology 1996;46:1239–1243.
26.
Feinberg TE, DeLuca J, Giacino JT, et al: Right-hemisphere pathology and the self: delusional misidentification and reduplication; in Feinberg TE, Keenan JP (eds): The Lost Self. New York, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp 100–130.
27.
Lee K, Shinbo M, Kanai H, Nagumo Y: Reduplicative paramnesia after a right frontal lesion. Cogn Behav Neurol 2011;24:35–39.
28.
Devinsky O: Right cerebral hemisphere dominance for a sense of corporeal and emotional self. Epilepsy Behav 2000;1:60–73.
29.
Chabwine JN, Granziera C, Vargas MI, Aboulaffia T, Caratsch L, Schnider A, Landis T, Perren F: Simultaneous Doppelgänger and limb amputation impression in right frontal opercular stroke. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2011;82:1209–1211.
30.
Devinsky O: Delusional misidentifications and duplications: right brain lesions, left brain delusions. Neurology 2009 6;72:80–87.
31.
Budson AE, Roth HL, Rentz DM, Ronthal M: Disruption of the ventral visual stream in a case of reduplicative paramnesia. Ann NY Acad Sci 2000;911:447–452.
32.
Gainotti G: Face familiarity feelings, the right temporal lobe and the possible underlying neural mechanisms. Brain Res Rev 2007;56:214–235.
33.
Moser DJ, Cohen RA, Malloy PF, Stone WM, Rogg JM: Reduplicative paramnesia: longitudinal neurobehavioral and neuroimaging analysis. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 1998;11:174–180.
34.
Bowles B, Crupi C, Mirsattari SM, et al: Impaired familiarity with preserved recollection after anterior temporal-lobe resection that spares the hippocampus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2007;104:16382–16387.
35.
Gainotti G: Emotional behavior and hemispheric side of the lesion. Cortex. 1972;8:41–55.
36.
Weinstein EA: The classification of delusional misidentification syndromes. Psychopathology 1994;27:130–135.
37.
Ruff RL, Volpe BT: Environmental reduplication associated with right frontal and parietal lobe injury. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1981;44:382–386.
38.
Filley CM, Jarvis PE: Delayed reduplicative paramnesia. Neurology 1987;37:701–703.
39.
Staton RD, Brumback RA, Wilson H: Reduplicative paramnesia: a disconnection syndrome of memory. Cortex 1982;18:23–35.
40.
Taiminen T, Jääskeläinen SK: Intense and recurrent déjà vu experiences related to amantadine and phenylpropanolamine in a healthy male. J Clin Neurosci 2001;8:460–462.
41.
Sno HN, Linszen DH, de Jonghe F: Déjà vu experiences and reduplicative paramnesia. Br J Psychiatry 1992;161:565–568.
42.
Hudson LA, Rollins YD, Anderson CA, Johnston-Brooks C, Tyler KL, Filley CM: Reduplicative paramnesia in Morvan’s syndrome. J Neurol Sci 2008;267:154–157.
© 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel
2012
Copyright / Drug Dosage / Disclaimer
Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
Disclaimer: The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publishers and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements or/and product references in the publication is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.
You do not currently have access to this content.