James March

Confabulation is the spontaneous narrative report of events that never happened. It consists of the creation of false memories, perceptions, or beliefs about the self or the environment—usually as a result of neurological or psychological dysfunction. When it is a matter of memory, confabulation is the confusion of imagination with memory, or the confused application of true memories. This book is the beginning of a month-long examination of false memories through graphic design. Memories are not impervious to suggestibility, novelty and noise. As such, opportunity arises in many situations where memories can be self-initated through the one's internal development and expanded by outside influence to the point of indiscernibility from the original event.

The "Lost in the Mall" technique, an experimental procedure that was used to demonstrate that confabulations can be created through suggestions made to experimental subjects, as well as the oft-cited reconstruction of automobile destruction study in which people watched footage of a car crash and later responded to questions based on the suggestibility of the questions, are two methods that will be investigated through graphic design over the course of a month-long series of design exercises.