Source Amnesia

Definition

Source Amnesia refers to an individual's inability to remember how, when, or where knowledge was acquired while retaining factual knowledge itself.

Theoretical Perspectives

Source amnesia, from a cognitive perspective, involves the inability to recall where, when, or how one has obtained knowledge. It reflects the complexities of memory encoding and retrieval processes.

Study And Research Findings

Research into source amnesia has highlighted its prevalence in everyday life and its particular impact on eyewitness testimony accuracy. Studies by Elizabeth Loftus have been seminal in understanding memory construction and misinformation effects related to source amnesia.

Related terms

Semantic Memory:

This refers to general world knowledge we have accumulated throughout our lives.

Misinformation Effect:

The tendency for post-event information to interfere with the memory of the original event.

Cognitive Psychology:

The scientific study of mental processes such as "attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity and thinking," which can include studying phenomena like source amnesia.