Quote:


Main Entry: cryp·tom·ne·sia
Function: noun
: the appearance in consciousness of memory images which are not recognized as such but which appear as original creations
—cryp·tom·ne·sic adjective
Source: dictionary.com




Quote:

cryptomnesia

In this mental operation, a person incorporates a memory from a motion picture, television show, rumor, or whatever other source and uses that recollection as the basis for a personal memory. This process may be involved in cases where a UFO "abductee," for example, relates "memories" of the abduction similar to events seen dramatized earlier in a work of entertainment. Parallels have been noted between the release or broadcast of certain UFO-related dramas and subsequent reports of "abductions" and other incidents resembling events in those dramas. There is reason to think this process may have been active in the United States in the late 19th century, because of similarities between reports of "airship" sightings and the story of French science fiction author Jules Verne's previously published novel "Robur the Conqueror" about an inventor and his fantastic airship.
Source: fusionanomaly.net




An article I came across recently from the NY Observer (New Lolita Scandal! Did Nabokov Suffer From Cryptomnesia? April 19, 2004) applies it specifically to a kind literary plagiarism attended by a confabulated belief that the material plagiarised was original, which suggests it is a kind of reverse psychogenic amnesia : rather than forgetting that something happened to you after it does, you forget that something hasn't after it doesn't.

Interesting word. Shame about the sources (the first too short, the second decidedly Wikipedean).

Does anyone have a better definition?

Last edited by Homo Loquens; 11/29/2005 12:39 PM.