How much do you trust your memory? No, no; I am not asking whether it is strong. Actually, the correct question is this: To what extent can you vouch for it? Are you truly certain of the reality of your recollections, memories, and all the experiences that make you who you are? While we all view forgetfulness as a natural part of our brains, we are missing a completely different dimension: The possibility that our brain might be deceiving us rather than forgetting; that is, in scientific terms, confabulation. Although the root of the word confabulation comes from the Latin for “Telling a story”, in neuroscience, this concept has come to mean the brain filling in gaps in memory with self-created “Honest Lies”. However, this situation is associated not merely with our brain, the greatest indicator of our personal reality, making a small, detailed error, but with the destruction undergone by temporal consciousness, our ability to place our past, present, and future into a context.
When we dive into the neurobiological origins of this “reconstructive memory” phenomenon, it is observed that the problem frequently takes the place in cases such as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, Alzheimer's, and Traumatic Brain Injury. However, contrary to expectations, recent studies using the lesion network mapping technique have shown that the issue stems not from damage to a specific region, but from a disconnection in the brain's memory and reality system, occurring within a broad functional processing network that includes critical structures like the mammillary bodies. Furthermore, in this model, it has been determined that the disconnection in this network causes the brain to fail to distinguish between “Uniqueness” and “Multiplicity”; it processes repeated routines from the past (multiplicity) as if they were a unique memory of the present (uniqueness). In addition, another study shows that the scenario changes form depending on where in this network (upstream or downstream of the hippocampus) the damage occurs. While most cases are diagnosed as “Habit Confabulation,” where past routines are copied to the present, it has been determined that in rarer instances, “Fantastic” content, where the brain can even go beyond the laws of physics, can also be produced. Nevertheless, the most striking aspect from a clinical perspective remains unchanged for both types: “Memory Confidence”. Other studies have recorded as a common symptom that the sense of confidence, which increases with accuracy in healthy individuals, is processed paradoxically in confabulating brains; the patient attaches to their self-produced fictional reality with a much more unshakable, passionate belief than that felt for a healthy memory.
In conclusion, confabulation has entered the literature as dramatic proof that memory is a “constructive” process rather than a mere archive. Along with all this, at this inevitable point where neuroscience and epistemology merge, a shattering truth strikes us: Our subjective truths are not a guarantee of objective reality. Our perception of self may be a delicate fiction dependent on the fragile balance of neural networks; meaning, perhaps memory's greatest flaw is not what it forgets, but those overly convincing stories it whispers to us.
References
1. Bateman, J. R., Ferguson, M. A., Anderson, C. A., Arciniegas, D. B., Gilboa, A., Berman, B. D., & Fox, M. D. (2024). Network localization of spontaneous confabulation. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 36(1), 45-52.
2. Robins, S. K. (2019). Confabulation and constructive memory. Synthese, 196(6), 2135-2151.
3. Dalla Barba, G., & La Corte, V. (2015). A neurophenomenological model for the role of the hippocampus in temporal consciousness. Evidence from confabulation. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 9, 218.
4. Brown, J., Huntley, D., Morgan, S., Dodson, K. D., & Cich, J. (2017). Confabulation: A guide for mental health professionals. Int J Neurol Neurother, 4(70), 133-160.
When we dive into the neurobiological origins of this “reconstructive memory” phenomenon, it is observed that the problem frequently takes the place in cases such as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, Alzheimer's, and Traumatic Brain Injury. However, contrary to expectations, recent studies using the lesion network mapping technique have shown that the issue stems not from damage to a specific region, but from a disconnection in the brain's memory and reality system, occurring within a broad functional processing network that includes critical structures like the mammillary bodies. Furthermore, in this model, it has been determined that the disconnection in this network causes the brain to fail to distinguish between “Uniqueness” and “Multiplicity”; it processes repeated routines from the past (multiplicity) as if they were a unique memory of the present (uniqueness). In addition, another study shows that the scenario changes form depending on where in this network (upstream or downstream of the hippocampus) the damage occurs. While most cases are diagnosed as “Habit Confabulation,” where past routines are copied to the present, it has been determined that in rarer instances, “Fantastic” content, where the brain can even go beyond the laws of physics, can also be produced. Nevertheless, the most striking aspect from a clinical perspective remains unchanged for both types: “Memory Confidence”. Other studies have recorded as a common symptom that the sense of confidence, which increases with accuracy in healthy individuals, is processed paradoxically in confabulating brains; the patient attaches to their self-produced fictional reality with a much more unshakable, passionate belief than that felt for a healthy memory.
In conclusion, confabulation has entered the literature as dramatic proof that memory is a “constructive” process rather than a mere archive. Along with all this, at this inevitable point where neuroscience and epistemology merge, a shattering truth strikes us: Our subjective truths are not a guarantee of objective reality. Our perception of self may be a delicate fiction dependent on the fragile balance of neural networks; meaning, perhaps memory's greatest flaw is not what it forgets, but those overly convincing stories it whispers to us.
References
1. Bateman, J. R., Ferguson, M. A., Anderson, C. A., Arciniegas, D. B., Gilboa, A., Berman, B. D., & Fox, M. D. (2024). Network localization of spontaneous confabulation. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 36(1), 45-52.
2. Robins, S. K. (2019). Confabulation and constructive memory. Synthese, 196(6), 2135-2151.
3. Dalla Barba, G., & La Corte, V. (2015). A neurophenomenological model for the role of the hippocampus in temporal consciousness. Evidence from confabulation. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 9, 218.
4. Brown, J., Huntley, D., Morgan, S., Dodson, K. D., & Cich, J. (2017). Confabulation: A guide for mental health professionals. Int J Neurol Neurother, 4(70), 133-160.