<p>While acknowledging the fact that Google delivers personalized results, I am fairly sure a Google search for &quot;heautoscopy&quot; will deliver you bucket loads of papers to read - I have copied a random handful for your convenience below under 'further reading'.</p>
<p>However, a popular source seems to contradict your definition, as it states <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heautoscopy" rel="nofollow noreferrer">heautoscopy</a> as being:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A hallucination in which one sees one's own body from a distance.
Heautoscopy may occur as a symptom in schizophrenia and epilepsy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Your own referenced <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16571536/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Brugger (2002)</a> paper gives a nice definition of both terms in one go:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In an <strong>autoscopic hallucination</strong> the <em>observer's perspective is clearly body-centred, and the visual image of one's own body appears as a mirror reversal</em>. <strong>Heautoscopy</strong> (i.e., the encounter with an alter ego or doppelgänger), is defined as a <em>reduplication not only of bodily appearance, but also of aspects of one's psychological self</em>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not being able to see ones own reflection in a mirror would be an entirely different phenomenon, more akin to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirrored-self_misidentification" rel="nofollow noreferrer">mirrored-self misidentification</a></p>
<p><sub><strong>Further reading</strong><br />
<strong>-</strong> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16019077/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Blanke &amp; Mohr, <em>Brain Res Brain Res Rev</em> (2005); <strong>50</strong>(1): 184-99</a><br />
<strong>-</strong> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16571536/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Brugger, <em>Cogn Neuropsychiatry</em> (2002); <strong>7</strong>(3): 179-94</a><br />
<strong>-</strong> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1073027/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Brugger <em>et al</em>., <em>J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry</em> (1994); <strong>57</strong>(7): 838–39</a></sub></p>

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2020-07-16T06:45:48.163Z
Thank you so much Alice for clarity! I am rewarding you a bounty of 100 points  :-)
Siju George
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-16T07:37:52.170Z
@SijuGeorge No worries and the prospect of a bonus sounds really nice :) Thanks!
AliceD
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2020-07-09T08:08:23.590Z
2020-07-17T15:09:10.360Z
2020-07-17T15:09:10.360Z
AliceD
<p>I understand that people who experience <strong><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16571536/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">autoscopy</a></strong> can see their body image outside them without a mirror. I had read many years back in a paper that people who experience the inverse phenomenon called <strong>&quot;heautoscopy&quot;</strong> become unable to see their body image in a mirror. I am not able to trace that paper. It is correct? Is there any place I can read more about it?</p>

<neuroscience><vision><consciousness><brain><hallucinations>
Do people who experience heautoscopy become unable to see their reflected image in a mirror?
Siju George
# Do people who experience heautoscopy become unable to see their reflected image in a mirror?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-02)

I understand that people who experience **[autoscopy](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16571536/)** can see their body image outside them without a mirror. I had read many years back in a paper that people who experience the inverse phenomenon called **"heautoscopy"** become unable to see their body image in a mirror. I am not able to trace that paper. It is correct? Is there any place I can read more about it?

**Tags:** neuroscience, vision, consciousness, brain, hallucinations


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-07-09. Score: 3

While acknowledging the fact that Google delivers personalized results, I am fairly sure a Google search for "heautoscopy" will deliver you bucket loads of papers to read - I have copied a random handful for your convenience below under 'further reading'.

However, a popular source seems to contradict your definition, as it states [heautoscopy](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heautoscopy) as being:

> A hallucination in which one sees one's own body from a distance.
> Heautoscopy may occur as a symptom in schizophrenia and epilepsy.

Your own referenced [Brugger (2002)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16571536/) paper gives a nice definition of both terms in one go:

> In an **autoscopic hallucination** the *observer's perspective is clearly body-centred, and the visual image of one's own body appears as a mirror reversal*. **Heautoscopy** (i.e., the encounter with an alter ego or doppelgänger), is defined as a *reduplication not only of bodily appearance, but also of aspects of one's psychological self*.

Not being able to see ones own reflection in a mirror would be an entirely different phenomenon, more akin to [mirrored-self misidentification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirrored-self_misidentification)

**Further reading**  
**-** [Blanke & Mohr, *Brain Res Brain Res Rev* (2005); **50**(1): 184-99](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16019077/)  
**-** [Brugger, *Cogn Neuropsychiatry* (2002); **7**(3): 179-94](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16571536/)  
**-** [Brugger *et al*., *J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry* (1994); **57**(7): 838–39](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1073027/)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you so much Alice for clarity! I am rewarding you a bounty of 100 points  :-)  
> **username_1**: @SijuGeorge No worries and the prospect of a bonus sounds really nice :) Thanks!  

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