Also known as motion blindness, akinetopsia is a very rare neuropsychological disorder in which a patient cannot see movement. However, they have no trouble seeing stationary objects. Their entire world lacks motion, impacting their ability to cook, read, drive and engage with others. One moment, there can be someone in the room with them, and suddenly the person just disappears. In reality, the person has walked away, but because of the inability to perceive movement, the patient only sees the empty room. As a sufferer, that would be utterly horrifying and could even suggest alien abduction. Since akinetopsia isnt something a patient has at birth, an individual could go from seeing and understanding motion only to suddenly see people disappear. Many witnesses to occurrences that have been called alien abduction indicate that a person is in one place, and then vanishes. Now of course, the veracity of these claims is disputed when placed against those of an expert medical professional, however, they still exist. Luckily for us, akinetopsia isnt actually caused by aliens; its a result of cortical lesions or, in laymans terms, some wounds in the wrinkled, grey stuff outside of the brain. It can also be caused by traumatic brain injury and use of antidepressants. Add that little titbit to the list of side effects you do not want. Most of what is known about akinetopsia comes from patient LM, who suffered from brain lesions. Throughout her life, she struggled to deal with her motion blindness, but never found any truly effective forms of treatment.
