Confabulation

Under confabulation or confabulate (from Latin fabula " fable, story, tale" ) is understood in psychopathology production objectively false statements or narratives, which occurs in various forms. Individual based on false perceptions, other on malfunction of memory, for example, if someone is trying to retrieve more information from his memory than is actually stored (so-called provoked confabulations ). A special variation is based on the failure of a preconscious filter that adjusts the cortical representation of an emerging concept according to its relation to the actual present. A failure of this mechanism leads to spontaneous confabulations and disorientation with a misunderstanding of the actual present. Only this form has a clear anatomical meaning: it is based on damage of the so-called orbitofrontal cortex, a region below to the brain above the eyes. Special attention she got in organically related processes, such as when amnesic Korsakoff's syndrome.

While a symptom carrier of Pseudologia phantastica only in the " moment " of the story of the truth and correctness convinced the Konfabulierende often remains in its history. Provoked confabulations also occur in healthy individuals.

Forensics

Play a special role confabulations in the field of forensic psychology, particularly in connection with the problem of credibility of witness statements ( statement psychology). In this context, an ongoing controversy about suggestibility and false -memory syndrome is performed.