Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

AIWS, or micropsia, is a disorienting neurological condition which affects human visual perception. It is the reverse of macropsia (in which objects appear larger than normal, and the subject smaller). For example, a family pet, such as a dog, may appear the size of a mouse, or a normal car may look shrunk to scale. Subjects perceive humans, parts of humans, animals, and inanimate objects as substantially smaller than in reality. Generally, the object perceived appears far away or extremely close at the same time.

The condition is in terms of perception only; the mechanics of the eye are not affected, only the brain's interpretation of information passed from the eyes. The syndrome is associated with, and perhaps in part caused by, the classical migraine headache. Occasionally, Alice in Wonderland syndrome is named as one of the first symptoms of mononucleosis (aka mono, aka the kissing disease). Micropsia can also be caused by complex partial epilepsy, and the actions of various psychoactive drugs (notably dextromethorphan, which is a cough suppressant drug found in many over-the-counter cold and cough medicines).

Small children, usually between the ages of five and ten, form a large proportion of those afflicted by spontaneous temporary micropsia. Micropsia tends to occur during darkness, when the brain lacks visual size references.

Micropsia not only affects visual perception, but also one's hearing, sense of touch, and sometimes one's own body image; the syndrome continues even when the eyes are closed. Peripheral symptoms include anxiety, apraxia, and agnosia. Micropsia is also commonly related to patients suffering schizophrenia.

The disorder is named after Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where the title character experiences many situations similar to those of micropsia and macropsia. Because Lewis Carroll recorded at least one episode of classical migraine, scholars have speculated that he may have experienced this syndrome himself.


P.S.: Because this week's post had to be related to the group topics, and because my group's topic is hard to pin down, I decided to do something that would probably be featured in the project itself (which is a board game on psychology and many of it's interesting and important aspects). Facinating syndromes like the one in this post are such things that would be beneficial to include my group project. So yeah. That's why I did that.

P.P.S.: I hope everyone is happy with the new blog layout. If the colors bother you, please let me know through an email. Or really if anything at all about the new layout bothers you. I want to know what everyone thinks. :]