Dartmouth College

ScholarPeer’s latest research news and reporting from Dartmouth College. Dartmouth College is a private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, founded in 1769. Its researchers investigate topics spanning medicine, neuroscience, genetics, cancer biology, environmental science, engineering, and the social sciences. Research at Dartmouth explores areas including cancer prevention and treatment, brain health, infectious diseases, artificial intelligence, climate change, and health disparities, advancing scientific understanding and developing innovative approaches to challenges in human health, technology, society, and the environment.

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Karl, 28, has seen distorted images for two years, ever since surgery to remove a tangle of blood vessels from the back right side of his brain (A). Some of the strangest distortions swap facial features between species. A familiar person’s eyes, with their shape and pupil size, appear on his cat’s face (B). Human faces take on his cat’s eyes, with large pupils, cat-like eye sockets, and matching shading (C). Episodes last for hours, sometimes a full day.

After Surgery, Man Sees His Cat’s Eyes on People’s Faces

A Cortex case report on one 28-year-old patient describes face distortions that carry a cat’s eye region onto human faces, and a person’s eyes onto the cat, hinting that memory can replay faces in parts.