Introduction: Current theories of confabulation are based primarily on the observation of neurological patients. The present paper evaluates these theories based on evidence from schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is unique in that it presents with a pathophysiology which differs from that of other neuropsychiatric conditions, and yet the candidate's deficits that various theories of confabulation implicate are often simultaneously present in schizophrenia.
Methods: A selective review of literature on schizophrenic and neurological confabulations was undertaken.
Results: Schizophrenic confabulation differs from neurological confabulation in terms of its characteristic features and association with symptoms, cognition and linguistic functions. Current evidence also suggests that confabulation may be conceptualized as a special class of delusions pertaining to memory phenomena.
Conclusions: Schizophrenia presents with confabulations that cannot be fully accounted for by the existing theories. It also presents with confabulations with unique features, which have different cognitive correlates and relation to other symptoms of the condition.
Keywords: confabulation; delusion; schizophrenia.