The role of personal biases in the explanation of confabulation.
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.
Metcalf
Kasey
K
Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit, Liverpool Hospital, Liverpool, Sydney, NSW 1871, Australia. kasey.metcalf@sswahs.nsw.gov.au
Langdon
Robyn
R
Coltheart
Max
M
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