Meaning & use
source confusion
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountabletechnical
A memory error in which a person remembers information but forgets or mistakes its origin or source.
Grammar: Uncountable: you say 'source confusion', not 'a source confusion'. It can be used with 'of': source confusion of a memory.
Patterns
- source confusion of something
- experience source confusion
- cause source confusion
Source confusion can make you think you saw something on the news when you actually read it online.
The study found that source confusion increases with age.
Eyewitnesses are prone to source confusion, mixing up what they saw with what they heard later.
Common combinations
- source confusion error
- The witness made a source confusion error, attributing a detail to the wrong person.
- experience source confusion
- People often experience source confusion when recalling dreams.
- reduce source confusion
- Keeping a diary can reduce source confusion about where you learned something.
Synonyms and how they differ
- source monitoring error
- A broader term in psychology for mistakes in identifying the origin of a memory; source confusion is a specific type.
Word family
Commonly confused: source confusion or false memory?
source confusion vs false memory
False memory is remembering something that never happened; source confusion is remembering something real but misplacing its origin.
Practice
What does 'source confusion' refer to in psychology?
Choose one answer.
Source confusion is about misattributing the origin of a memory, not about forgetting entirely or literal rivers.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “source confusion”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.