Confabulation

Confabulation is the invention of detailed but fictitious details regarding events that supposedly took place in the past. Usually this hides a person’s inability to remember certain events that happened earlier.

Confabulation can be a symptom of any form of memory loss, but it is most common in Korsakoff's syndrome. With Korsakov's syndrome, there are memory gaps that the patient fills in with fictitious stories. This happens involuntarily and unconsciously.

Thus, confabulation is a kind of defense mechanism of the brain that tries to compensate for gaps in memory by creating false memories. Although confabulation is a symptom of pathology, it helps maintain the patient's sense of personal integrity and identity.

A person often faces a situation where it is difficult for him to remember some events from the past. This may be due to various factors such as fatigue, stress, alcohol, drugs and others. However, sometimes we hear of people who make up various details about their past events. This is called confabulation.

Confabulations can occur either because memory is weak or because a person is simply making up details to make sense of their story. Sometimes confabulation is a symptom of memory loss. Korsakoff's syndrome can lead to confabulation, as it is a condition in which a person forgets important information from their life. With Korsakoff's syndrome, people may forget past events, such as names of places, names of people, dates and other details. They can use their confabulatory memories to fill in gaps in their memory.