Confabulation

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

Confabulation is the confusion of imagination with memory, and/or the confusion of true memories with false memories.

People with Korsakoff's syndrome characteristically confabulate by guessing an answer or imagining an event and then mistaking their guess or imagination for an actual memory.

It can also occur as a result of damage to the ACoA, or Anterior communicating artery, in the Circle of Willis.

Confabulation also appears to be a common occurrence in normal individuals under experimental circumstances, as shown by research into choice blindness. ^{[citation needed]}

Some military agents, such as BZ, and deliriant drugs such as those found in datura, noticeably scopolamine and atropine, may also cause confabulation.

[edit] References

• Hirstein, William (2004). Brain Fiction: Self-Deception and the Riddle of Confabulation. The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-58271-1.
• Kalat, J. W., (2002). Biological Psychology (8th ed). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Thomson Wadsworth.
• Stedman, T. L. (2000, January 15). Stedman's Medical Dictionary (27th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

[edit] See also

• False memory