source confusion
Misremembered information origin
Source confusion is the failure to correctly remember where information came from—mixing up whether you read something, heard it, dreamed it, or imagined it.
I could have sworn she told me, but maybe I just assumed it.
The phenomenon explains false memories and why people sometimes believe they witnessed events they only heard described.
In psychology, it's also called source monitoring error or source misattribution.
- originStarting point or source
- attributionAssigning origin or cause
- mistakenIncorrectly understood or believed
- memoryMind's retention capacity
- false memoryBelieved but fictional recall
false · recall · tip of the tongue · misremember · plagiarism · blending · mixing · mixed up · crossed wires · uncertainty · lost track · testimony · eyewitness · unreliable · distortion · fabrication · muddle · blur
- Attribution Errorsmisquote
- memory errorsmemory leak, false memory, memory distortion, misattribution, confabulation
- media errorstypo, misquote, factual error, misspelling, correction
- Misattributed Quotesmisquotes
- perception errorsmisperception, illusion, optical illusion, visual distortion, blind spot
source confusioneidetic memory
Flawless detailed instant recall
photographic memory · total recall · retrograde amnesia · anterograde amnesia
source, sources, sourced, sourcing, confuse, confused, confuses, confusing, confusion