CONFABULATION FOLLOWING RUPTURE OF POSTERIOR COMMUNICATING ARTERY

In this study we report a patient, MG, who following rupture of left p osterior communicating artery exhibited an amnesic-confabulatory syndr ome. Neuropsychological examination showed severe impairment on episod ic memory tasks, which were marred by florid but plausible and semanti cally appropriate confabulation. Performance on tasks involving variou s kinds of semantic knowledge was normal or only mildly impaired. Perf ormance on tasks traditionally considered sensitive to frontal dysfunc tion was severely impaired with the exception of Cognitive Estimates w here MG's performance was completely normal. There was no evidence of structural (CT scan) or metabolic (SPECT) damage to the frontal lobe. It is argued that tasks traditionally considered sensitive to frontal dysfunction are not specifically implemented by cognitive resources ba sed on frontal structures. MG's confabulation is discussed in terms of a possible disruption of cognitive functions involved in the control of the subjective experience of feeling of remembering.