ABSTRACT
Recollective confabulation is a symptom of memory impairment that is often described as being like permanent or persistent deja vu. People with recollective confabulation present with striking delusion-like features, such as calling a TV repairman because their television is constantly repeating, or doing things at the same time in the same place every day. Critically, recollective confabulation is not like permanent deja vu, because these patients act on their feelings, and are not aware of the fact that they have a false sense of familiarity. Recollective confabulation can arise as the result of a number of different pathologies, but has most often been described in dementia and in older adults. Conceptually, it is important to distinguish recollective confabulation from deja vu by stressing that in recollective confabulation the experient is not aware of the feeling of repetition, patients with recollective confabulation are delusional in that they act upon it and believe that their life is repeating.
