Cryptomnesia and Plagiarism

Abstract

Cryptomnesia belongs to the category of psychiatric terms which acquired a bad reputation and nearly passed into obsolescence. Its disrepute has come from its popularity with people who are believers in psychic forces, spiritualism, vitalism and other supernatural agencies. Such people have used it to denote the apparent ability of some mediums to become aware, when they are in a trance, of “hidden” memories—hidden in the sense of being inaccessible to them in their normal consciousness.