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Confabulation in schizophrenia and its relationship to clinical and neuropsychological features of the disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2007

E. LORENTE-ROVIRA ,
E. POMAROL-CLOTET ,
R. A. McCARTHY ,
G. E. BERRIOS  and
P. J. McKENNA
E. LORENTE-ROVIRA*
Affiliation:
Clinical Hospital, Valencia (AVS), Spain
E. POMAROL-CLOTET
Affiliation:
Benito Menni CASM, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
R. A. McCARTHY
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK
G. E. BERRIOS
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, UK
P. J. McKENNA
Affiliation:
Section of Psychological Medicine, University of Glasgow, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Ms Esther Lorente-Rovira, Servicio de Psiquiatría, Centro de Salud Mental de la Malvarrosa, Avda/Malvarrosa, 10, 46003 Valencia, Spain. (Email: esterlorente@hotmail.com)
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Abstract

Background

A form of confabulation has been documented in schizophrenia and appears to be related to the symptom of thought disorder. It is unclear whether it is associated with the same pattern of neuropsychological deficits as confabulation in neurological patients.

Method

Thirty-four patients with chronic schizophrenia, including those with and without thought disorder, and 17 healthy controls were given a fable recall task to elicit confabulation. They were also examined on a range of executive, episodic and semantic memory tests.

Results

Confabulation was seen at a significantly higher rate in the schizophrenic patients than the controls, and predominated in those with thought disorder. Neuropsychologically, it was not a function of general intellectual impairment, and was not clearly related to episodic memory or executive impairment. However, there were indications of an association with semantic memory impairment.

Conclusions

The findings support the existence of a form of confabulation in schizophrenia that is related to thought disorder and has a different neuropsychological signature to the neurological form of the symptom.

Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 37 , Issue 10 , October 2007 , pp. 1403 - 1412
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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