Confabulations: a conceptual history

Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
G E Berrios

Abstract

Confabulations are inaccurate or false narratives purporting to convey information about world or self. It is the received view that they are uttered by subjects intent on "covering up" for a putative memory deficit. The epidemiology of confabulations is unknown. Speculated causes include amnesia, embarrassment, "frontal lobe" damage, a subtype of "personality", a dream-like event, and a disturbance of the self. Historical analysis shows that "confabulation" was constructed at the turn of the century as part of a network of concepts (e.g. delusion, fixed idea, etc.) meant to capture narratives with dubious content. This paper deals with the history of the construction of the word and concept of confabulation and with earlier recognitions of the behaviours that serve as their referent and puts forward a model based on historical data. Two phenomena are included under "confabulation": "untrue" utterances by subjects with memory impairment and "fantastic" utterances marshalled with conviction by subjects suffering from psychoses and no memory deficit. Under different disguises, the "covering up" or "gap filling" hypothesis is still going strong. Although superficially plausible, it poses problems in regards to the issue of "awaren...Continue Reading

Citations

Oct 5, 2007·Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology : the Official Journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists·Eunjoo LeeKenichi Meguro
Mar 24, 2004·Neuropsychologia·Aikaterini FotopoulouOliver Turnbull
Apr 18, 2008·Cognitive Neuropsychology·Kasey MetcalfMax Coltheart
Sep 18, 2009·Cognitive Neuropsychiatry·Robyn Langdon, Tim Bayne
Sep 17, 2009·Cognitive Neuropsychiatry·Asaf Gilboa
Aug 25, 2010·Annual Review of Psychology·Max ColtheartRyan McKay
Jul 4, 2008·Annales de réadaptation et de médecine physique : revue scientifique de la Société française de rééducation fonctionnelle de réadaptation et de médecine physique·A PeskineP Pradat-Diehl
Jun 30, 2004·Brain and Cognition·Oliver H TurnbullCathryn E Y Evans
Sep 5, 2006·General Hospital Psychiatry·Duru Gundogar, Serpil Demirci
Mar 8, 2007·Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology·Eunjoo LeeEtsuro Mori
Aug 5, 2017·Frontiers in Psychology·Sven Bernecker

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