Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Examining the Characteristics of Episodic Memory using Event-related Potentials in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
Published on: August 30, 2011
Provoked confabulations in Alzheimer's disease
Janine M Cooper1, Michael F Shanks, Annalena Venneri
1Institute of Child Health, University College London, UK.
Abstract:
Confabulation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been the subject of limited investigation. When studied, the phenomenon has been found to share characteristics with memory distortions produced by neurologically intact individuals. Previous studies that have investigated confabulation in AD have failed to take into account the characteristics of the disease and the presence of confabulations in the retrieval of recent autobiographical memory (ABM). The aim of this study was to develop a test that could investigate the tendency to confabulate in recent autobiographical memory that was specifically created for eliciting confabulatory behaviours in patients with AD. Four experiments have been carried out. In Experiment 1, AD patients who have yet to show confabulatory behaviour were compared to elderly adults. The results revealed that AD patients produced significantly more confabulations on the new test compared to elderly adults. Experiment 2 investigated if the results of the initial experiment were due to AD patients having limited working memory capacity that would lead to difficulties in performing the test compared with elderly adults as AD patients would be in a condition of memory overload. The results showed that even when compared with the performance of elderly individuals under memory overload condition, AD patients still produced more confabulations than elderly adults. Using a correlational approach Experiments 3 and 4 revealed that a high production of provoked confabulatory answers were associated with poor scores on personal episodic memory measures but not with other measures of cognitive functioning such as working memory and/or executive function.
More Related Videos
08:27Establishment of a Valuable Mimic of Alzheimer's Disease in Rat Animal Model by Intracerebroventricular Injection of Composited Amyloid Beta Protein
Published on: July 29, 2018
06:23The 4 Mountains Test: A Short Test of Spatial Memory with High Sensitivity for the Diagnosis of Pre-dementia Alzheimer's Disease
Published on: October 13, 2016
Related Concept Videos
Alzheimer Disease l: Introduction
Alzheimer's Disease: Overview
The clinical diagnosis of AD hinges on the presence of memory and other cognitive impairments. Biomarkers, such as changes in Aβ and tau...
Alzheimer Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Dementia l: Introduction
Alzheimer's Disease: Treatment
Dementia
The progression of dementia is generally gradual.