The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat By Oliver Sacks

Ever wonder why human beings are able to recognize everything in this world? This could include a phenomenon that occurs naturally in the environment such as footprints on the ground, or artificial factors such as photos or words. This circumstance is caused by representation. Representations are part of the cognitive system of perception that allows people to recognize information they come into contact with every single day. Dr. Jim Davies of Carleton University described in a lecture the concept of representations and the importance of the idea was further explained in a novel written by Dr. Oliver Sacks The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat. Dr. Sacks mentions these patients with various problems when their visual representations are disfigured and unattainable, which emphasizes stories in the novel as the main base examples for representations in perception. Oliver Sacks starts his novel by introducing one of his first patients, Dr. P. Dr. P's well-being doesn't allow him to recognize complete objects or people but instead, individual qualities can let him figure out who's the person.

During the meeting he can’t recall what’s the glove purpose in a situation. The reason behind this circumstance is he doesn't have the ability to access his memories that described the representation of a glove. In addition, he mistakes his wife for a hat. This is due to the fact that his visual imagination and perception along with memory, were damaged that causes him to “see” his hat instead of his wife. Another example is when Dr. Sacks gave Dr. P a rose and did not realize it was a rose until he uses his sense of smell to acknowledge it. Although he knows what a rose looks like but cannot transform the objects to internal representations from the physical environment. Representations are memories that in a way display images in the brain that allow people to recognize objects when they encounter them. They are different from reality but stand in for reality. Previously mentioned, Dr. Sacks explains that Dr. P’s visual representations along with his memory were essentially damaged and cannot include visual images in his dreams. Dr. P was not the only patient with a similar case in The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat. In one of the chapters (pg. 55), there’s a man who can no longer recognize his left leg. When he wakes up from a nap in the hospital he cannot relay visual information to a representation and memory in his mind and thinks his leg is some other object and not part of him. Dr. Sacks explains to the patient that it’s his leg however, the man does not believe that it is his own. He also asks where the patients "real" leg was, and the man admits he does not know. This example demonstrates that representations are connected to memories and if the person cannot retrieve these memories there is no visual representation.

Professor Davies mentions in his lecture how internal representations and perceptions of the environment transform into actions. When in the environment our mind takes in visual objects and through perception turn into representation and allow people to use their senses to proceed with regular duties. Going back to one of the examples when Dr. P mistook his wife for a hat demonstrates how internal visual representations misleads him to grabbing his wife’s head instead of his hat. In the example where the man's leg appears to be non existent. Representations are knowledge, memories, or images that are interpreted to create a form of action. These images or ideas in our mind are taken from memories that allow people to recognize objects in the real world. With the absence of representations, there are holes in understanding and action. Dr. P mistook his wife for a hat due to the fact his mental representation was confused and misplaced. The man in the hospital punched his own leg because his internal representation disappeared and could not find another representation to reinstate it. Visual representation effects on Dr. Sacks patients’ causes their minds to lose their ability to recall past and present memories and the patients have to find another method to go on with their lives. Dr. P miraculously creates scenarios for each exercise he performs to keep focused and avoid the feeling of being lost. However, the brain comes up with another solution to make up for the loss of visual representations but these representations plays a bold part in recognition and understanding our real world.