confabulation

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Categories: Site glossary

recall is a reconstructive process, where the brain constructs a coherent and sensible memory from the representations it can access – often memory traces activated only offer a partial account, and so 'filling-in' is needed. The term confabulation may refer to this normal filling-in process or may be used to refer to extreme examples where people recall fantastic or unlikely memories when filling-in during recall.

Read about 'Remembering and forgetting'

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Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.