Izzvane spominske konfabulacije pri bolnikih z boleznimi možganov

Sakić, David (author), Pirtošek, Zvezdan (mentor)

V sklopu te magistrske naloge smo proučevali konfabulacije, simptom pri nekaterih bolnikih z različnimi boleznimi možganov. Bolniki s tem simptomom trdijo nekaj in v to močno verjamejo, četudi se zunanji opazovalci s trditvami ne strinjajo in lahko predložijo dokaze, ki trditve izpodbijejo. Pri naši raziskavi smo se omejili na izzvane spominske konfabulacije, ki jih klasificiramo kot podzvrst konfabulacij. S strukturiranim vprašalnikom za odkrivanje konfabulacij smo testirali bolnike z boleznimi možganov in skušali odkriti, ali so pri njih prisotne izzvane spominske konfabulacije in kako zelo razširjen je ta simptom. Naši hipotezi sta bili, (i) da je konfabulacije mogoče izzvati in kvantificirati z Dalla Barbovim vprašalnikom za odkrivanje konfabulacij ter (ii) da so konfabulacije bolj razširjen pojav, kot je navedeno v znanstveni literaturi, in niso prisotne zgolj pri ozkem naboru bolnikov z boleznimi možganov. Raziskava pri bolnikih, ki ne kažejo konfabulatornega vedenja, še ni bila opravljena, zato bi lahko naše delo odgovorilo na vprašanje, ali imajo bolniki z različnimi boleznimi, ki glede na rezultate testa konfabulirajo v podobni meri, kakšne skupne značilnosti. Rezultat naše raziskave je bil, da ima uporabljeni vprašalnik za odkrivanje konfabulacij številne pomanjkljivosti, in posledično so tudi rezultati, po katerih nevrološki bolniki proizvedejo signifikantno več konfabulacij kot zdravi udeleženci (p = 0,021), nezanesljivi. Prvo hipotezo o kvantifikaciji konfabulacij s tem vprašalnikom smo torej ovrgli, hipoteze o večji razširjenosti konfabulacij med bolniki z boleznimi možganov pa posledično nismo mogli zanesljivo testirati. Predlagamo nekaj potencialnih izboljšav za izboljšanje zanesljivosti vprašalnika, toda hkrati podvomimo o možnosti kvantifikacije tako kompleksnega in slabo razumljenega pojava, kot so konfabulacije. Naše ugotovitve so relevantne za vse raziskave, v katerih je bil uporabljen enak ali podoben vprašalnik. Obstaja možnost, da so rezultati tovrstnih raziskav močno popačeni ali celo napačni.

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: konfabulacije
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.09 - Master's Thesis
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Year: 2016
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-87182
• COBISS.SI-ID: 11349577
• Publication date in RUL: 04.09.2017

Secondary language

• Language: English
• Title: Provoked mnemonic confabulation in patients with brain diseases

Abstract

In the scope of this Master’s thesis, we have studied confabulations, a symptom in some patients with brain diseases. These patients claim and believe something even though third person observers do not agree with them and can offer proof to the contrary. In our study, we focused only on provoked mnemonic confabulations, which we classify as a subgroup of confabulations. We used a structured questionnaire to test patients with various brain diseases to determine whether they show signs of provoked mnemonic confabulations and, if so, how widespread this phenomenon is. We had two hypotheses: (i) confabulations can be provoked and quantified using the Dalla Barba Confabulation Battery, and (ii) confabulations are more widespread than stated in the current scientific literature. This would mean that confabulations are not limited only to a narrow scope of patients. As of yet and to our knowledge, no study has tested confabulations in patients that do not show any obvious confabulatory behaviour. Our study could therefore provide important data on patients with similar scores and different diseases, possibly hinting at some underlying similarities. Our conclusion was that the questionnaire has several and serious flaws, thus making unreliable our result that patients with brain diseases confabulate statistically significantly more often than healthy individuals (p = 0.021). Therefore, we rejected our first hypothesis on quantifying confabulations using this questionnaire and could not confirm or reject that confabulations are more widespread among patients with a brain disease than currently believed. We propose some changes that might make the questionnaire more reliable but we also share our doubts on whether such a complex and badly understood phenomenon as confabulation can even be quantified. Our findings are relevant for every study in which this or a similar questionnaire was used. There is a distinct possibility that the results of these studies are strongly skewed or incorrect.

• Keywords: confabulations