confabulation n
1. an informal conversation [syn: chat, confab, schmooze, schmoose]
2. (psychiatry) a plausible but imagined memory that fills in gaps in what is remembered

Confabulation \Con*fab`u*la"tion\, n. [L. confabulatio.] Familiar talk; easy, unrestrained, unceremonious conversation. Friends' confabulations are comfortable at all times, as fire in winter. --Burton.

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In psychology, confabulation is the spontaneous narrative report of events that never happened. It consists of the creation of false memories, perceptions, or beliefs about the self or the environment - usually as a result of neurological or psychological dysfunction. With respect to memory, wild confabulations about one's past are rare in the absence of organic causes (e.g., brain damage), and the term "confabulation" is often restricted to these types of distortions. In contrast, even neurologically intact people are susceptible to memory errors or confusions due to psychological causes (see false memory).

Berlyne (1972) defined confabulation as "...a falsification of memory occurring in clear consciousness in association with an organically derived amnesia". He distinguished between:

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