Neuropsychological Rehabilitation of Spontaneous Confabulation

NCT ID: NCT02540772

Last Updated: 2016-03-07

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 20 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2013-04-30
• Study Completion Date: 2015-04-30

Brief Summary

Confabulators consistently generate false memories without intention to deceive and with great feeling of rightness. However, there is currently no known effective treatment for them. In order to fill this gap, the aim of this trial was to design a neuropsychological treatment based on the current theoretical models and test it experimentally in two groups of confabulators: experimental vs. control. The treatment consisted of some brief material that patients had to learn and recall at both immediate and delayed moments. After both recollections, patients were given feedback about their performance (errors and correct responses). Pre-treatment and post-treatment baselines were administered. Confabulators in the control group performed the baselines without treatment, and were then offered the treatment after the second baseline.

Conditions

Memory Disorders

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Neuropsychological treatment

The tested treatment is a combination of neuropsychological rehabilitation procedures: learning, episodic memory recall after a delay, selective attention, inhibition of predominant responses and awareness of deficits.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Neuropsychological treatment

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Participants had to learn some brief material (words, faces, pictures, news), after which they were asked for an immediate and a delayed recall. After both recalls, participants were confronted with feedback about correct responses, non-responses and errors (i.e., confabulations and errors of attribution). This type of feedback worked on: 1) selective attention during the learning phase, training patients to focus on the relevant details of the stimuli; 2) monitoring processes during the retrieval phase, reinforcing the strategic search and training patients to inhibit traces that were irrelevant; and 3) memory control processes after the retrieval phase. The treatment consisted of 9 sessions and lasted for 3 weeks and the participants performed a baseline before and after treatment.

No treatment

Patients in the control group only performed the baselines.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Neuropsychological treatment

Participants had to learn some brief material (words, faces, pictures, news), after which they were asked for an immediate and a delayed recall. After both recalls, participants were confronted with feedback about correct responses, non-responses and errors (i.e., confabulations and errors of attribution). This type of feedback worked on: 1) selective attention during the learning phase, training patients to focus on the relevant details of the stimuli; 2) monitoring processes during the retrieval phase, reinforcing the strategic search and training patients to inhibit traces that were irrelevant; and 3) memory control processes after the retrieval phase. The treatment consisted of 9 sessions and lasted for 3 weeks and the participants performed a baseline before and after treatment.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

Confabulations treatment

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• The presence of spontaneous confabulations after acute brain injury, for at least three months and without clinical improvement (interfering with the patient's daily life with frequent arguments and exhaustive supervision).
• The presence of momentary confabulations in the Spanish adaptation of Dalla Barba provoked confabulation interview.
• Prior to injury, all patients should be completely independent for daily living.

Exclusion Criteria

• The presence of impairment in alertness.
• Dementia.
• Acute confusional state.
• A history of alcohol or drug abuse.
• Psychiatric antecedents.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 35 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 86 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Monica Triviño Mosquera

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Monica Triviño Mosquera

Psychology PhD

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Monica Triviño, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

San Rafael University Hospital

Locations

San Rafael University Hospital

Granada, Granada, Spain

Countries

Spain

References

Gilboa A, Alain C, Stuss DT, Melo B, Miller S, Moscovitch M. Mechanisms of spontaneous confabulations: a strategic retrieval account. Brain. 2006 Jun;129(Pt 6):1399-414. doi: 10.1093/brain/awl093. Epub 2006 Apr 25.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 16638795 (View on PubMed)

Moscovitch M, Melo B. Strategic retrieval and the frontal lobes: evidence from confabulation and amnesia. Neuropsychologia. 1997 Jul;35(7):1017-34. doi: 10.1016/s0028-3932(97)00028-6.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 9226662 (View on PubMed)

Schnider A. The confabulating mind. How the brain creates reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2008.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Nahum L, Bouzerda-Wahlen A, Guggisberg A, Ptak R, Schnider A. Forms of confabulation: dissociations and associations. Neuropsychologia. 2012 Aug;50(10):2524-34. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.06.026. Epub 2012 Jul 7.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 22781813 (View on PubMed)

Ciaramelli E, Ghetti S, Borsotti M. Divided attention during retrieval suppresses false recognition in confabulation. Cortex. 2009 Feb;45(2):141-53. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2007.10.006. Epub 2008 Feb 6.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 19150516 (View on PubMed)

Dayus B, Van den Broek MD. Treatment of stable delusional confabulations using self-monitoring training. Neuropsychol Rehabil, 2000; 10(4):415-427.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Del Grosso Destreri N, Farina E, Calabrese E, Pinardi G, Imbornone E, Mariani C. Frontal impairment and confabulation after herpes simplex encephalitis: A case report. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2002 Mar;83(3):423-6. doi: 10.1053/apmr.2002.29646.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 11887126 (View on PubMed)

Dalla Barba G, Decaix C. "Do you remember what you did on March 13, 1985?" A case study of confabulatory hypermnesia. Cortex. 2009 May;45(5):566-74. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2008.03.009. Epub 2008 Jun 5.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 18621364 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Conf-01

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id