confabulating
Making things up
Confabulating is producing false memories without intending to deceive.
In psychology and neurology, it describes patients who fill gaps in memory with fabricated details they genuinely believe: After the brain injury, he was confabulating—describing trips he never took as if they had happened.
More loosely, confabulating means chatting or conversing informally, though this sense is now rare.
Informal verbal exchange
- talkingProducing speech aloud
- discussingTalking through a topic
- banteringLight, playful teasing
- dialoguingEngaging in discussion
discoursing · exchanging · gossiping · schmoozing · gabbing · conversing · chinwagging · nattering
Pathological loss of recall
- dementiaChronic cognitive impairment
- brain injuryDamage to cranial organ
- neurologicalOf the nervous system
- frontal lobeBrain's decision-making center
false memory · delusion · disorientation · confusional · memory gaps · neuropsychological · memory impairment · cognitive deficit
Making intentionally untrue
- misrememberingInaccurate mental retrieval
- deceivingCausing false belief
- lyingStating known falsehoods
- distortingMisshaping or falsifying
embellishing · exaggerating · misrepresenting · false memories · memory distortion · reconstructing · conflating
chatting
Informal verbal exchange
- talkingProducing speech aloud
- discussingTalking through a topic
- banteringLight, playful teasing
dialoguing · discoursing · exchanging · gossiping · schmoozing · gabbing · conversing · chinwagging · nattering · prattling
amnesia
Pathological loss of recall
- dementiaChronic cognitive impairment
- brain injuryDamage to cranial organ
- neurologicalOf the nervous system
frontal lobe · false memory · delusion · disorientation · confusional · memory gaps · neuropsychological · memory impairment · cognitive deficit
falsifying
Making intentionally untrue
- misrememberingInaccurate mental retrieval
- deceivingCausing false belief
- lyingStating known falsehoods
distorting · embellishing · exaggerating · misrepresenting · false memories · memory distortion · reconstructing · conflating
confabulatingtelling the truth
stating facts · being honest · documenting · verifying · corroborating