Confabulation

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Under confabulation or confabulate (as Lat. Confabulatio , narrative 'of fabula , fable ', 'History', 'Fairytale') is understood in the psychopathology production objectively false statements or stories that occurs in various forms. Some are based on wrong perceptions , others on malfunctions of the memory , e.g. B. if someone tries to retrieve more information from his memory than is actually stored (so-called provoked confabulations ).

One particular variation is based on the failure of a preconscious filter that adjusts the cortical representation of an emerging thought based on its relation to the current present. Failure of this mechanism leads to spontaneous confabulations and disorientation with a misunderstanding of the current present. Only this shape has a clear anatomical meaning: It is based on damage to the so-called orbitofrontal cortex , a region below the brain , above the eyes. It has received special attention in organic processes, e.g. B. in amnesiac Korsakoff syndrome . Synonyms for expansive confabulatory syndrome .

Confabulations are checked by asking for the same event several times. The confabulator fills the gaps in memory with constantly new content that he takes to be memories.

Confabulations also play a special role in the field of forensic psychology , especially in connection with the problem of the credibility of witness statements ( testimony psychology ). In this context, there is an ongoing controversy surrounding suggestibility and false memory syndrome .

Examples:

  • In Star Wars Episode V , Darth Vader says to Luke Skywalker: "No, I am your father" (in the English original: "I am your father"). This is often misquoted as "Luke, I am your father"
  • Nelson Mandela died of pneumonia in 2013. Yet there is a widespread misconception that he died while in prison in the 1980s. Therefore, confabulation is sometimes referred to as the Mandela effect.

See also

literature

  • Daniel Schacter: The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. Mariner Books, Boston 2002, ISBN 0-618-21919-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ V. Faust Psychiatry Today
  2. ↑ Michael Rentrop, Rupert Müller, Hans Willner: Clinic Guide Psychiatry Psychotherapy. 5th edition Elsevier, Urban & Fischer, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-437-23147-6 .
  3. ↑ Katharina Niemetz: Mandela Effect: That is the meaning. August 24, 2019, accessed April 27, 2020 .