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Human neuroimaging and animal studies have recently implicated the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in memory schema, particularly in facilitating new encoding by existing schemas. In humans, the most conspicuous memory disorder following vmPFC damage is confabulation; strategic retrieval models suggest that aberrant schema activation or reinstatement plays a role in confabulation. This raises the possibility that beyond its role in schema-supported memory encoding, the vmPFC is also implicated in schema reinstatement itself. If that is the case, vmPFC lesions should lead to impaired schema-based operations, even on tasks that do not involve memory acquisition. To test this prediction, ten patients with vmPFC damage, four with present or prior confabulation, and a group of twelve matched healthy controls made speeded yes/no decisions as to whether words were closely related to a schema (a …