Comprehension, encoding, and monitoring in the production of confabulation in memory: A study with schizophrenic patients

Abstract

The results are in favour of the hypothesis that verbal comprehension difficulties lead to the production of confabulation. They are inconsistent with the idea that memory monitoring impairment is necessarily involved.

Confabulations in schizophrenia

“…More specifically, Morais et al (2004) showed that confabulation in schizophrenia patients was higher for fables than stories, and higher for stories than word lists, but was unrelated to memory monitoring failure. Schizophrenic confabulations are also found to be associated with conceptual disorganization (Salazar-Fraile et al, 2004), and they exhibit difficulty in distinguishing plausible from implausible information in fables (Nathaniel-James et al, 1996).…”

“…This suggests the stories are represented abnormally at the encoding phase and are disorganized even before they are retrieved. This deficit is further compounded by a faulty editing process at output (see Morais et al, 2004). Schizophrenia patients’ tendency to confabulate even in the absence of a memory component further supports the role of faulty encoding processes.…”

“…Nathaniel-James et al (1996) suggest that this differs from retrieval theories which implicate strategic retrieval processes based primarily on observations of neurological patients with impaired free recall but preserved recognition. The evidence, therefore, suggests that prospective monitoring is not sufficient to avoid confabulations in schizophrenia (also see Morais et al, 2004; Lorente-Rovira et al, 2010). Monitoring may be crucial for neurological confabulations (see Gilboa et al, 2006), but schizophrenic confabulations also implicate encoding processes (Kramer et al, 1998; Lorente-Rovira et al, 2010).…”

“…While some studies have found an association with executive function, response monitoring and response suppression, others have not (Lorente-Rovira et al, 2007; 2010; Nathaniel-James and Frith, 1996; Nathaniel-James et al, 1996). Studies have also failed to find an association of schizophrenic confabulations with planning or IQ (Lorente-Rovira et al, 2007; Nathaniel-James and Frith, 1996; Nathaniel-James et al, 1996; but see Morais et al, 2004; Salazar-Fraile et al, 2004). Taken together, these findings suggest that the association of executive functions with confabulations is not as well established in schizophrenia as in neurological conditions (e.g, Moscovitch and Melo, 1997).…”

“…Though memory deficits have been observed often in neurological patients with confabulations, findings from several studies suggest that memory deficits are neither necessary nor sufficient for the occurrence of schizophrenic confabulations (Morais et al, 2004; Lorente-Rovira et al, 2007, 2010; Morais et al, 2004; Nathaniel-James and Frith, 1996; Nathaniel-James et al, 1996; Salazar-Fraile et al, 2004). However, some studies have suggested a more specific role for semantic memory deficits in schizophrenia.…”