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Confabulation Resilience of the Developing Brain: A Brief Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2019

Julie Nyvang Christensen*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Glostrup, Denmark
Thomas Alrik Sørensen
Affiliation:
Aalborg University & Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research, Aalborg, Denmark
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Julie Nyvang Christensen, Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Valdemar Hansens Vej 1-23 DK-2600 Glostrup, Denmark. E-mail julie.nyvang.christensen@regionh.dk

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate a possible confabulation resilience of the developing brain. Methods: We performed a literature search on confabulation in PubMed and identified all empirical studies of children and adolescents under the age of 18. Results: The analysis identified only three case studies of confabulation in children under the age of 18 of 286 empirical studies of confabulation. This reveals a striking discrepancy in the number of reported cases caused by brain injury between children and adults. We hypothesize that there may be a resilience toward confabulation in the developing brain and present three tentative explanations regarding the possible underlying mechanisms. Conclusions: Additional awareness on the scarcity of reported cases of confabulation in children could lead to important insights on the nature of confabulation and greater understanding of the resilience and plasticity of the developing brain. (JINS, 2019, 25, 426–431)

Type
Short Review
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society, 2019. 

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