Reply to comment

I've been thinking more about "the storyteller"/conscious and it's characteristics... and whether or not a need for logical coherence (or rationality?) is really one of them. I bring this up because I've been thinking about the concept of confabulation. This was brought up in relationship to Capgras syndrome last class, but I've been thinking about it more as a result of my experiences working with some individuals with brain injuries.

Does the storyteller really care if a "story", or explanation of observations/feelings/beliefs/etc., are "logical" (probable? rational?)? An example... a man who has recently become incontinent during the night. He has never had many "physical" problems and refuses to accept that it is possible for him to be wetting the bed at night. His firm belief is that someone, in the middle of the night, is coming into his room and urinating both on his bed and him to make it look like he's incontinent.

Some other general cases that come to mind are... psychotic delusions--- stories, but are they logical/rational/probable? Obsessive-compulsive beliefs (which may be a problematic example since they are usually defined as irrational beliefs)? Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

At any rate, it was said during class that in essence "we are all confabulators" which I think is a good (useful?) way of thinking about how the brain and specifically the "storyteller"/conscious works.