title: Confabulation in schizophrenia and its relationship to clinical and neuropsychological features of the disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A form of confabulation has been documented in schizophrenia and appears to be related to the symptom of thought disorder. It is unclear whether it is associated with the same pattern of neuropsychological deficits as confabulation in neurological patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-four patients with chronic schizophrenia, including those with and without thought disorder, and 17 healthy controls were given a fable recall task to elicit confabulation. They were also examined on a range of executive, episodic and semantic memory tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Confabulation was seen at a significantly higher rate in the schizophrenic patients than the controls, and predominated in those with thought disorder. Neuropsychologically, it was not a function of general intellectual impairment, and was not clearly related to episodic memory or executive impairment. However, there were indications of an association with semantic memory impairment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings support the existence of a form of confabulation in schizophrenia that is related to thought disorder and has a different neuropsychological signature to the neurological form of the symptom.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Hospital, Valencia (AVS), Spain. esterlorente@hotmail.com
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lorente-Rovira
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pomarol-Clotet
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Berrios
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: McKenna
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003702:Delusions / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011939:Mental Recall; D033262:Narration; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011584:Psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012660:Semantics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014705:Verbal Behavior