2008/01/01 by Remy Glowinski, Vahid Payman, Kate Frencham · 2 citations
Medicine · Engineering · #Empathy and Medical Education #Traumatic Brain Injury Research #Anatomy and Medical Technology
paper · doi:10.1080/00048670802415335
openalex publication_date 2008/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Confabulation can be of two types: provoked or spontaneous. The former is the more common and can occur on challenge to an amnesic patient's memory. Spontaneous confabulation involves an unprovoked outpouring of unbelievable autobiographical claims. The purpose of the present paper is to synthesize the current literature on confabulation for the use of treating clinicians. There is a focus on the spontaneous form, which is less common, but more memorable when encountered. In this paper the history, phenomenology, incidence, anatomical underpinnings and theoretical mechanisms of spontaneous confabulations will be reviewed, and then the paper will conclude by addressing prognostic and treatment issues. A systematic literature review of electronic databases was conducted to identify the key articles, reviews and books that have shaped the understanding of spontaneous confabulation.