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Confabulation in schizophrenia: A neuropsychological study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2010

E. LORENTE-ROVIRA ,
J.L. SANTOS-GÓMEZ ,
M. MORO ,
J.M. VILLAGRÁN  and
P.J. MCKENNA
E. LORENTE-ROVIRA*
Affiliation:
Clinic University Hospital, Valencia, AVS and CIBERSAM, Spain
J.L. SANTOS-GÓMEZ
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Unit, Virgen de la Luz Hospital, Cuenca, Spain
M. MORO
Affiliation:
Basic Psychology, Clinic Psychology and Psychobiology Department, Jaume I University, Castellón, Spain
J.M. VILLAGRÁN
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Hospitalization Unit, Jerez de la Frontera Hospital, Cádiz (SAS), Spain
P.J. MCKENNA
Affiliation:
Benito Menni CASM, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona and CIBERSAM, Spain
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: E. Lorente-Rovira, Centro de Salud Mental de la Malvarrosa, Avda. Malvarrosa, 10, 46011, Valencia, Spain. E-mail: esterlorente@hotmail.com
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Abstract

Confabulation has been documented in schizophrenia, but its neuropsychological correlates appear to be different from those of confabulation in neurological disease states. Forty-five schizophrenic patients and 37 controls were administered a task requiring them to recall fables. They also underwent testing with a range of memory and executive tasks. The patients with schizophrenia produced significantly more confabulations than the controls. After correcting for multiple comparisons, confabulation was not significantly associated with memory impairment, and was associated with impairment on only one of eight executive measures, the Brixton Test. Confabulation scores were also associated with impairment on two semantic memory tests. Confabulation was correlated with intrusion errors in recall, but not false positive errors in a recognition task. The findings suggest that confabulation in schizophrenia is unrelated to the episodic memory impairment seen in the disorder. However, the association with a circumscribed deficit in executive function could be consistent with a defective strategic retrieval account of confabulation similar to that of Moscovitch and co-workers, interacting with defective semantic memory. (JINS, 2010, 16, 1018–1026.)

Keywords

SchizophreniaConfabulationIntrusion errorsEpisodic memoryExecutive dysfunctionSemantic memory dysfunction
Type
Symposia
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 16 , Issue 6 , November 2010 , pp. 1018 - 1026
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2010

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