Capgras syndrome is best described as what?

• A. Auditory hallucinations
• B. Delusional belief that familiar person is an imposter
• C. Mood elevation
• D. Amnesia

Answer: (B)

Capgras syndrome is a delusional misidentification in which a familiar person is believed to have been replaced by an identical impostor. The person may recognize the face but feels no emotional familiarity, which drives the conviction that the individual is not truly who they appear to be. This is a delusion rather than a perceptual hallucination (like hearing voices) or a mood disturbance (such as elevated mood). It often appears in schizophrenia, dementia, or after brain injury and reflects disrupted integration between facial recognition and emotional processing.