title: The role of personal biases in the explanation of confabulation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous research has demonstrated that motivational forces play an important role in determining the content of confabulation. In particular the content of confabulation has been shown to contain a positive emotional bias. This study investigated the role of personal biases in the confabulations of six patients with diverse aetiologies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Confabulations were elicited with a series of structured interviews. We then compared the patients' confabulations to their actual situations. Further analyses compared confabulations about current (i.e., the postmorbid period) and past (i.e., premorbid events and general life circumstances) events.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Group analysis confirmed a general bias to recall events that were more positive than the reality. However, examination of individual cases revealed that positive biases were not universal. Confabulations about current circumstances showed the positive bias, whereas an emotional bias was not evident in past confabulations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that motivational forces play a role in determining the content of confabulations but conceive of this role primarily in terms of a need to maintain a consistent self-concept (whether positive or negative) overlaid upon the ease with which an individual can retrieve familiar premorbid daily activities and routines.
authors.affiliation: Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit, Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, Sydney, NSW 1871, Australia. kasey.metcalf@sswahs.nsw.gov.au
authors.forename: Kasey
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Metcalf
authors.forename: Robyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Langdon
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Coltheart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D003702:Delusions / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D018579:Patient Selection; D011936:Reality Testing; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014705:Verbal Behavior