Lightrail11,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear of your fight with the train.

Your confabulations sound like simple dreams. I have similar dreams where I combine different situations into one memory. The part of the memory that is from a dream is the inability to get up from the bed. This is the dream combining with the body paralysis that happens during the dream state. I have a dream where I overcome the body paralysis by being able to jet around in a jet pack chair. My legs don't need to move at all so the dream works without the stress of paralysis.

The problem with these dreams is they combine real events with dream parts that make it difficult to differentiate the dream parts from reality when I am awake. I have to search my memory for the details of the reality memory so I can sort of 'over-ride' the dream parts.

If I fall asleep watching TV, the audio of the TV gets combined into the dream. Sometimes, the audio is factual and other times just a TV script. It makes for interesting memories.

I know that combining reality with dreams or even combining realities from different events into one event is common as the brain deteriorates due to age. I have observed it as I watch my parents age. My late father had severe dementia and my mother is sharp as a tack but both did/do this.

It makes for some interesting memory confusion.

I wonder if the neuroscience researchers understand how/why our brains combine reality with fiction.