This is a Lexicon entry: the mechanism, when it shows up, and the countermeasure. The full correction, with real-world cases and the audit prompt, hasn't been written yet.
Definition
Primary concept: Source Confusion. Cryptomnesia is Source Confusion applied to ideas - experiencing someone else's idea as your own original thought.
When it shows up
Creative work, writing, ideation. The sense of having an original thought that turns out to be something you read or heard before and forgot.
Failure mode
The original source is lost but the content is retained. The content is experienced as original to yourself. Plagiarism accusations sometimes have this root; the plagiarizer may genuinely not remember the source.
Countermeasure
Before claiming originality, do a search for the key phrases. Your subconscious has read more than your conscious memory tracks. Verify novelty before advancing a claim of it.
Related traps
Also connected in the map3 more, locked
Credit & first seen
DiscoveredSchacter, D.L. (1999).The seven sins of memory.American Psychologist 54(3), 182-203 source ↗
Also revealed
Entry #119 of 631 in The Lexicon · see the full Lexicon