When Sven's parents overhear him describing a birthday party from earlier in his life, they look at each other in surprise. In the middle of Sven's recollection of his own party were details of one of his father's childhood parties! Sven's memory illustrates the concept of:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Confabulation is a memory error where an individual remembers details that did not actually occur. In this case, Sven has included details from his father's childhood party in his own memory of his birthday party, indicating the phenomenon of confabulation. Priming is the activation of specific associations or memories due to a prior experience, which is not relevant in this scenario. Implicit memory refers to the unconscious memory for routine activities, while decay is the fading of a memory over time, neither of which seem applicable in this case.

When Sven's Parents Overhear Him Describing a Birthday Party from Earlier