[Confabulations--prior and recent theories of a mysterious syndrome].
Confabulations are no unitary syndrome, but comprise different forms of verbal statements with a varying aetiology. They can pertain to autobiographical events, semantic knowledge, the past, presence and future and are fabricated, distorted or misinterpreted memories or perceptions without conscious intent to deceive. Confabulations are caused by different mechanisms: on the one hand by disturbed memory processing (mainly by monitoring disturbances)--such as impairments in source monitoring or in the strategic retrieval of memories; on the other hand by perceptual disorders (such as neglect). Confabulations act as sense-makers in a current situation, as self-makers to keep one's identity in interaction with others and as world-makers to organize and legitimate actions.