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I have dementia, and I can say with certainty that I sometimes do one of two things.  Sometimes I "reach back into my memory" for facts and statistics I know I used to know, but then when the sentences begin, I am appalled to discover that the facts have not been retrieved.  It is embarrassing, awkward and often more than that.   On the other hand, sometimes people with dementia unconsciously complete a "gestalt." Subconsciously their minds see a complete square even when two of the lines don't quite meet.  That is completing a Gestalt. It is a survival mechanism born of mammals' need to see the whole lion even though it is partially obscured by a bush or the branch of a tree.  Gestalt is a perceptual phenomenon. Relaying something one 'remembers" after subconsciously seeing a complete Gestalt is NOT lying. Lying is consciously constructing a falsehood.  I was a teacher, and I was accustomed to being credible and honest. the honesty (a character trait) is still there despite the fact that I'm not always so credible all the time.   Please, please: My brain is failing me, but not my intent. To assume that I've become a liar is horribly mistreating me.  It causes me a loss of something that is still mine, and it does so at a time when I am losing som many other things!  
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