It does not matter if it is their favorite shirt or the vase that they have seen since they were little at home. Those who suffer from visual agnosia do not recognize faces or objects, although if they pick it up and manipulate it, they are able to recognize it. It is a rare disease that only affects eight people worldwide.
An injury to the brain is the cause that, those who suffer visual agnosia, do not recognize absolutely anything of what they see. It is not a language problem because those who suffer from it know all the words and objects that are around them; Nor is it a memory disorder, since they do remember objects equally if they perceive them with other senses. It is simply a dysfunction between the brain and the vision that makes everything around it continually new . For example, if he is shown a tennis racket, he will not know what that object is or what it is used for, but as soon as he picks it up, he will know that it is a racket and that it is used to hit a ball.
The brain injury that causes this strange problem can cause it from a head injury or a cerebrovascular accident such as a stroke, to meningitis .
At the moment there is no cure for visual agnosia, but rehabilitation can significantly improve the situation of those who suffer from it. There are also other agnosias related to other senses such as taste agnosia or olfactory agnosia (anosmia)
