A new type of agnosia

[Michael]

* * * * NOTE FROM THE LINGUISTICS MODERATOR * * * *

I am moving this thread to Comparative Religion, since it is only tangentially about linguistics.



First a quick bit of medical background.

Agnosia is a loss of ability to recognize objects, persons, sounds, shapes, or smells while the specific sense is not defective nor is there any significant memory loss. Agnosia can result from strokes, dementia, or other neurological disorders. It may also be trauma-induced by a head injury, brain infection, or hereditary. Some forms of agnosia have been found to be genetic. For all practical purposes, there is no direct cure.

Types:

Visual agnosia: Is associated with lesions of the left occipital lobe and temporal lobes. Many types of visual agnosia involve the inability to recognize objects.

Visual verbal agnosia : Difficulty comprehending the meaning of written words. The capacity to read is usually intact but comprehension is impaired.

Prosopagnosia: Also known as faceblindness and facial agnosia: Patients cannot consciously recognize familiar faces, sometimes even including their own. This is often misperceived as an inability to remember names.

Time agnosia: Is the loss of comprehension of the succession and duration of events

Phonagnosia: Is the inability to recognize familiar voices, even though the hearer can understand the words used.

Anosognosia: The inability to gain feedback about one's own condition and can be confused with lack of insight but is caused by problems in the feedback mechanisms in the brain. It's caused by neurological damage and can occur in connection with a range of neurological impairments but is most commonly referred to in cases of paralysis following stroke. Those with Anosognosia with multiple impairments may even be aware of some of their impairments but completely unable to perceive others.

Auditory agnosia: There is difficulty distinguishing environmental and non-verbal auditory cues including difficulty distinguishing speech from non-speech sounds even though hearing is usually normal.

Color agnosia: Inability to recognize a color, while being able to perceive or distinguish it.

Cortical deafness : Refers to people who do not perceive any auditory information but whose hearing is intact.

Finger agnosia : Is the inability to distinguish the fingers on the hand. It is present in lesions of the dominant parietal lobe, and is a component of Gerstmann syndrome.

Form agnosia: Patients perceive only parts of details, not the whole object

etc...




It has become apparent to me, that some people have a genetic type of agnosia where they lack the ability to recognize that God is illusion. So, why in linguistics? Well, I was wondering: What would be the medical terminology used to describe such people?


- Theoagnosia?

- Theistic agnosia?

- Atheistic agnosia?



What do you think?

M

 

[Nathan]

How do you know God is illusion? Sure, God doesn't exist as according to the modern bible, but it is just as possible that life is the work of intelligent design as any other theory out there.

So now I ask you, what would be the medical terminology for people that lack the ability to recognize that God may or may not exist. Not people that choose not to believe in god (due to lack of evidence/skepticism, aka agnosticism or atheism), but people that cannot realize the possibility of there being a higher power/creator/designer/god. Not based on beliefs (or lack of beliefs), but based on the inability to understand the possibility. Maybe ignorance?

 

[mikenostic]

It has become apparent to me, that some people have a genetic type of agnosia where they lack the ability to recognize that God is illusion. So, why in linguistics? Well, I was wondering: What would be the medical terminology used to describe such people?

That's pretty ironic considering 'agnostics' typically consider the existence of god highly unlikely; unless, 'agnosia' has nothing to do terminology-wise, as 'agnostic'. Those two words seem fairly related to me, in some fashion though.

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

That's pretty ironic considering 'agnostics' typically consider the existence of god highly unlikely; unless, 'agnosia' has nothing to do terminology-wise, as 'agnostic'. Those two words seem fairly related to me, in some fashion though.

"Agnosia" and "agnostic" were indeed both derived from the Greek word agnotos, which means simply "unknown." However, "agnostic" was coined by philosophers in the 19th century, whereas "agnosia" was coined by the Greeks themselves and means simply "ignorance." It was pressed into service by the new discipline of psychiatry around a hundred years ago to describe a disorder.

In any case the two words were brought into English by specialists in two different fields for two different purposes. Only a linguist would fuss over their related etymologies. For everyone else, it might as well be a curious coincidence, like the two different words spelled and pronounced "cleave" with entirely opposite meanings.

 

[Enmos]

Color agnosia: Inability to recognize a color, while being able to perceive or distinguish it.

I am colorblind, but a mild form of color agnosia would describe what I experience much better..

On topic:
How about 'Veritagnosia' ?

Ok, I combined a Latin word with a Greek one.. lol

Veritagnosia, from Veritas (truth) + Agnotos (unknown)

 

[Michael]

How do you know God is illusion?

I think therefor I am. I know God is an illusion in as much as I can know anything.

Do we know FSM is not real? In as far as we can know anything. Agreed?

That's pretty ironic considering 'agnostics' typically consider the existence of god highly unlikely; unless, 'agnosia' has nothing to do terminology-wise, as 'agnostic'. Those two words seem fairly related to me, in some fashion though.

Good point.

"Agnosia" and "agnostic" were indeed both derived from the Greek word agnotos, which means simply "unknown." However, "agnostic" was coined by philosophers in the 19th century, whereas "agnosia" was coined by the Greeks themselves and means simply "ignorance." It was pressed into service by the new discipline of psychiatry around a hundred years ago to describe a disorder.

In any case the two words were brought into English by specialists in two different fields for two different purposes. Only a linguist would fuss over their related etymologies. For everyone else, it might as well be a curious coincidence, like the two different words spelled and pronounced "cleave" with entirely opposite meanings.

Thanks Fraggle

I am colorblind, but a mild form of color agnosia would describe what I experience much better..

On topic:
How about 'Veritagnosia' ?

Ok, I combined a Latin word with a Greek one.. lol

Veritagnosia, from Veritas (truth) + Agnotos (unknown)

hey, pretty good word Enmos!

Oh, your photos are really great, I would have never guessed you had any sort of color blindness. My old flatmate and I were walking down the street once and I laughed at something on a shirt and he stopped and said what's so funny, he couldn't see it. He never knew he was color blind until then and he was over 30 years old!

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

How about 'Veritagnosia' , from Veritas (truth) + Agnotos (unknown)

Doesn't work. Agnotos is the past participle of a verb built up from a, "without" + gnoth- "to know." Its meaning would be more precisely stated as "without knowing." If you put another word in front of it, that tiny a will be lost in the phonetic and grammatical structure. Verita-gnosia looks like it means "knowledge of truth."

 

[Enmos]

Doesn't work. Agnotos is the past participle of a verb built up from a, "without" + gnoth- "to know." Its meaning would be more precisely stated as "without knowing." If you put another word in front of it, that tiny a will be lost in the phonetic and grammatical structure. Verita-gnosia looks like it means "knowledge of truth."

Oh lol ok. It sounds kinda good though

 

[Enmos]

hey, pretty good word Enmos!

Oh, your photos are really great, I would have never guessed you had any sort of color blindness. My old flatmate and I were walking down the street once and I laughed at something on a shirt and he stopped and said what's so funny, he couldn't see it. He never knew he was color blind until then and he was over 30 years old!

Hey thanks !

I don't experience much difficulty with it in my life either, but it's there nonetheless.
On the flipside, I see more than most other people pattern-wise

 

[madanthonywayne]

I am colorblind, but a mild form of color agnosia would describe what I experience much better..

Not really. All the other agnosia's deal with neurologic defects, your problem is a diffent arrangement of photoreceptors which reduces your ability to detect a certain color (usually red or green). Very few people called "color blind" actually see in black in white as this would imply a complete lack of the photoreceptors that detect color (the cones). There are some people like this, but they are not only color blind, but usually have severely reduced visual acuity (ie can't drive, can't read normal print, etc).

 

[Enmos]

Not really. All the other agnosia's deal with neurologic defects, your problem is a diffent arrangement of photoreceptors which reduces your ability to detect a certain color (usually red or green). Very few people called "color blind" actually see in black in white as this would imply a complete lack of the photoreceptors that detect color (the cones). There are some people like this, but they are not only color blind, but usually have severely reduced visual acuity (ie can't drive, can't read normal print, etc).

Yea, I know what red-green colorblindness is
It's just that I don't fail all the tests. And after being pointed out a color or color pattern I can see it half the time.
It's like I just don't notice color very well instead of being unable to see it.

 

[madanthonywayne]

Yea, I know what red-green colorblindness is
It's just that I don't fail all the tests. And after being pointed out a color or color pattern I can see it half the time.
It's like I just don't notice color very well instead of being unable to see it.

What you have is a lower number of photoreceptors than is normal for some particular color. This causes you to not be able to detect, say (if you suffer from deutanopia) , a lite green but you can still see a dark green. You can still identify green, it just doesn't stand out as much, it registers at a much lower intensity than is considered normal.

 

[Enmos]

Not really. All the other agnosia's deal with neurologic defects, your problem is a diffent arrangement of photoreceptors which reduces your ability to detect a certain color (usually red or green). Very few people called "color blind" actually see in black in white as this would imply a complete lack of the photoreceptors that detect color (the cones). There are some people like this, but they are not only color blind, but usually have severely reduced visual acuity (ie can't drive, can't read normal print, etc).

Yea, I know what red-green colorblindness is
It's just that I don't fail all the tests. And after being pointed out a color or color pattern I can see it half the time.
It's like I just don't notice color very well instead of being unable to see it.

I can confuse the following colors (only certain shades, I can distinguish most colors):

Grays - Pinks
Pinks - Purples
Purples - Greens
Purples - Blues
Greens - Blues
Greens - Browns
Greens - Reds
Greens - Oranges
Greens - Yellows

Also, if a color is weak (almost white) or when the object is very small or far away I can tell what color it is far less often than other people.

 

[mikenostic]

Doesn't work. Agnotos is the past participle of a verb built up from a, "without" + gnoth- "to know." Its meaning would be more precisely stated as "without knowing." If you put another word in front of it, that tiny a will be lost in the phonetic and grammatical structure. Verita-gnosia looks like it means "knowledge of truth."

Dang Fraggle, are you a history teacher or historian or something?
You are just full of historical facts of terms and words. Thanks for the spool up on the terminology.

 

[Michael]

How about: "mythoagnosia"? The inability to perceive that something they were taught is actually just a myth and is not in fact reality.


Take an adult who still believes in Santa AND does not recognize that Santa is mythical*.
I'm fairly certain such behavior would be diagnosed as a medical disorder.

MII


* Santa may be replaced with YWHA, Allah, Xenu, Sauron etc....

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

Dang Fraggle, are you a history teacher or historian or something? You are just full of historical facts of terms and words. Thanks for the spool up on the terminology.

I'm the Moderator of Linguistics. Language is my thing, although not my professional thing. But I'll share my secret if you promise not to tell: Dictionary.com has great etymologies. You just have to work at it and follow links to related words, and of course it helps to know quite a bit about the words and the languages when you start. I'm an I.T. consultant but these days I specialize in corporate training and course development, and writing and editing.

Santa may be replaced with YWHA....

It's YHWH (yodh heh waw heh in Hebrew). In Latin, predictably, it became IHVH, which is how we came by "Jehovah."

 

[madanthonywayne]

It has become apparent to me, that some people have a genetic type of agnosia where they lack the ability to recognize that God is illusion. So, why in linguistics? Well, I was wondering: What would be the medical terminology used to describe such people?


- Theoagnosia?

- Theistic agnosia?

- Atheistic agnosia?



What do you think?

M

I've seen patients affected by this. Just the other day I had a patient with cortical deafness. She'd had a series of strokes and was left unable to consciously hear. If you startled her with a sound, she'd react but she couldn't understand speech. I've also seen patients with aphasia (they could no longer understand speech), as well as patient who could no longer read following a stroke. Very sad.

As to the thread topic, what you're overlooking is the fact that in every case of agnosia, the neurologic defect causes the affected individual to not percieve something that actually exists as opposed to sencing something that isn't there. So, if there is any sort of theological agnosia, it would be the inability to recognize the existance of God.

 

[Michael]

How would you describe someone who doesn't have the ability to recognize that Santa is fictional? I'd say this is some sort of neurological deficit.

 

[Enmos]

How would you describe someone who doesn't have the ability to recognize that Santa is fictional? I'd say this is some sort of neurological deficit.

Mentally disabled ?

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

I think the phenomenon you're all dancing lightly around is called cognitive dissonance. The ability to believe two contradictory things. It's pretty common. We've probably all done it.