WHAT ARE CONFABULATORS’ MEMORIES MADE OF? A STUDY OF SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MEASURES OF RECOLLECTION IN CONFABULATION

Joanne Shih

Elisa Ciaramelli, Simona Ghetti

What is confabulation? A memory of an event or experience that

has not actually happened

What is confabulation? A memory of an event or experience that

has not actually happened Known causes:

Brain damage Psychological or psychiatric disorders

(e.g. Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease)

What is confabulation? A memory of an event or experience that

has not actually happened Known causes:

Brain damage Psychological or psychiatric disorders

(e.g. Schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease) Confabulators: re-live their confabulatory

reports as if they are true memories

Research Objective To what extent are confabulators’

subjective experiences of memories based on what they recall objectively?

Background

Subjective experience of memories are the same as the details they recall

Healthy Individuals

Background

Subjective experience of memories are the same as the details they recall

Have the ability to remember, but their subjective memories are based on faulty recollection

Healthy Individuals Confabulators

Hypotheses The subjective experience of remembering

and the objective ability to recollect qualitative features are distinct in confabulating patients unlike in normal subjects

This is due to their excessive processing of context-irrelevant information upon recollection

Participants 12 patients with

brain damage 5 confabulators (4

males, 1 female) 7 non-

confabulators (4 males, 3 females)

12 healthy individuals

Exp. 1: Summary Confabulating patients: impaired

recollection of information but exhibited subjective experience of memories

Non-confabulating patients: impaired recollection of information and impaired subjective experience of memories

Exp. 2: Method 40 words in two sets

(4-8 letters long) Set 1: Study Set 2: Distracters

R/K Recognition Task: R-“remember” K- “know”

‘R’ responses= subjective measure of recollection

Raters: Categorized

patients’ responses Intra-list Extra-list Self-referent

Exp. 2: Method

octopus

Study

octopus

Recognition

Old? Remember? Know?New?

One word presented every

3s

Exp. 2: Results Confabulators’ R responses (their subjective

recollection) were not triggered by specific details from the context

…They were mainly triggered by self-referent (autobiographical) information Aka, context-irrelevant info

Discussion Excessive processing of context-irrelevant

info seems to be responsible for: The dissociation between subjective and

objective measures of recollection in confabulators

Their vivid recollection of false memories Why the failure to inhibit irrelevant info?

Confabulators have problems adapting to reality

Discussion Cont’d. Having large amounts of retrievable info

for recollection influences feeling of knowing

Confabulating patients’ memory decisions are cluttered by large amount of info Influences their sense of knowing Promotes confidence in their false

memories

Future Directions Study factors involved in failure to inhibit

irrelevant information Investigate therapeutic applications Link findings with anatomical structures

involved

Take-Home Message

Limiting patients’ access to irrelevant info will improve memory performance

Opinion of Paper

Good background experimental designs

Addressed alternative explanations for findings

Lack of figures: an example of the word task used would clarify procedure

Uneven distribution of confabulating patients and gender

Strengths Weaknesses

Questions?