Cryptamnesia
Cryptamnesia is the experience of not remembering that one is remembering: a person reproduces something they encountered previously, such as a phrase or an idea, while genuinely believing it is their own original creation, with no awareness that they are actually recalling it from somewhere else.
This has been described succinctly as the experience of not remembering that one is remembering, and it remains unclear how common the experience is or whether it is linked to any particular psychiatric condition.
Recognition features
- Material genuinely encountered before (a phrase, an idea, a piece of writing) is reproduced with the sincere belief that it is original
- No awareness that the material is actually a memory rather than a new creation
- The person is not being dishonest; the misattribution is genuine and unintentional
- Can affect creative or intellectual output, such as writing or problem-solving
Eliciting it at interview
- Where a person is accused of unintentional plagiarism or unconsciously repeating another's idea, explore in a non-accusatory way whether they may have previously encountered the source material without recalling having done so
- Ask about the person's general exposure to relevant material (reading, conversations) around the time the 'original' idea or phrase is said to have occurred to them
- Recognise that this experience is not, on its own, evidence of dishonesty or of any particular psychiatric condition
Distinguishing features
- Differs from ordinary plagiarism in that there is no intent to deceive; the person genuinely believes the material is their own
- Differs from confabulation in that the reproduced material actually was previously encountered somewhere, rather than being entirely invented to fill a gap
- Its clinical significance, if any, remains genuinely uncertain, unlike several of the other, better-characterised distortions of recall
Common misconceptions
- That cryptamnesia is a form of deliberate plagiarism; the defining feature is precisely the absence of any awareness that the material is not original
- That the phenomenon points toward a specific underlying psychiatric diagnosis; no clear or specific association has been firmly established
Related phenomena
Practice this
A writer produces a passage that closely matches, almost word for word, a paragraph she read years earlier in someone else's book, sincerely believing the passage to be entirely her own original creation, with no awareness that she is reproducing something she previously encountered. What is this? · A patient with a significant organic memory impairment, when asked what she did yesterday, confidently and elaborately describes attending a family celebration that did not take place and that bears no resemblance to anything she is known to have previously experienced. Before revealing the answer: is this cryptamnesia? · A patient produces content that turns out not to be a genuinely new creation. Before revealing the answer, decide what distinguishes cryptamnesia from confabulation. · Two patients each describe a mismatch between what actually happened and how familiar or new it felt. Before revealing the answer, decide what direction of mismatch tells déjà vu apart from cryptamnesia. · A patient has produced content that you suspect may not be as original as they believe. Before revealing the answer, decide how you would explore whether this is cryptamnesia. · Explain why cryptamnesia is described as "not remembering that one is remembering" rather than simply as a failure of memory.
Illustration
A hobbyist songwriter is dismayed to be shown that the melody he was certain he had composed entirely himself closely matches a song he had heard, just once, at a friend's house party over a year earlier, an overlap he insists, with evident sincerity, he had no awareness of at all while writing.
References
- Casey, P. & Kelly, B. (2019). Fish's Clinical Psychopathology, 4th ed. Ch. 5, 'Disorders of Memory'.