ABSTRACT
Dr. P. suffered from a relatively rare form of a neurological condition called prosopagnosia, or the inability to recognize faces. In his description of the case, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Sacks, 1970), Oliver Sacks details some of the difficulties Dr. P. had putting visual information together to construct, or perceive, a whole object. For example, when presented with a rose and asked what it is, Dr. P. examined the flower and said, “About six inches in length. . . . A convoluted red form with a linear green attachment” (p. 13). Only after he is encouraged smell the object does Dr. P show recognition, exclaiming, “Beautiful . . . an early rose. What a heavenly smell!” (p. 14). He could see all the pieces, but could not put together the whole.
