title: Phenomenal characteristics of cryptomnesia.
abstract: Qualitative characteristics of cryptomnesia, or unintentional plagiarism were investigated. In Experiment 1 we compared accurate and inaccurate source attributions in terms of their level of confidence using instructions that did not require a fixed number of responses. Confidence was lower for plagiarised responses than for correct responses. Nevertheless, participants provided high ratings of certainty for a large proportion of their plagiarised responses. In Experiment 2 the phenomenological differences between plagiarised recall and veridical recall were compared by using an adaptation of the memory characteristics questionnaire (Johnson, Foley, Suengas, & Raye, 1988). Correct responses were associated with more experiential detail than plagiarised responses. However, a considerable number of plagiarised responses were accompanied by a confident memory of at least one qualitative characteristic. Results are discussed in terms of the source monitoring framework developed by Johnson, Hashtroudi, and Lindsay (1993).
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Psychology Unit, University of Liège, Belgium. serge.bredart@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brédart
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lampinen
authors.forename: Anne-Catherine
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Defeldre
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000647:Amnesia / Q000523:psychology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D015714:Plagiarism; D011581:Psychological Tests