memory

[dodecahedron]

I'm looking for a particular word in regards to memory. I'm posting here because the example I'm going to give is the fabled Thunderbird photograph.
There are lots of people who swear up and down that they've seen the Thunderbird photo but can not give direct cites only stuff like "It was in a Tucson newspaper back in 1974" or a vague reference of "some Fortean book". At first I was going to say it's cryptomnesia but upon refreshing my memory of its definition I'm not even close.
Is there a term for memories of things/events that never existed/happened but the recall is so vivid the individual is fooled into thinking it is true?

[Argos]

Paramnesia, déjà vu.

[Van Rijn]

Is there a term for memories of things/events that never existed/happened but the recall is so vivid the individual is fooled into thinking it is true?

False memory. It's quite common. People can confuse dreams with real events, or get mixed up on details from old (or not so old) events, or can base memories on suggestions by others.

[hhEb09'1]

I seem to remember that the False Memory Syndrom Foundation coined the term in 1992, but I'm not sure. The False Memory Syndrom wikipage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory_syndrome)says they did.

[dodecahedron]

Thank you all!!!

[KaiYeves]

You mean like when you bring somebody a soda when they didn't ask for one and argue with them that they did so much that they think they actually must have ordered a soda?

[Fortis]

You mean like when you bring somebody a soda when they didn't ask for one and argue with them that they did so much that they think they actually must have ordered a soda?
False memories are surprisingly/worryingly easy to create.

[KaiYeves]

Not that I've ever done that, but people have done that to me.

[hhEb09'1]

Not that I've ever done that, but people have done that to me.Ha! now you owe me fifty bucks! I told you you'd say "people have done that to me" when can I expect the check?

[Fazor]

One example I can give is a reoccuring dream I use to have where I'd walk to my bedroom in the dark (it was at the end of a long hall), and when I'd go to enter my room which was also dark, the lightswitch wouldn't work.

I'd keep trying it, but with each failed "flip" I'd get more and more terrified, like something bad was going to happen. I have never been afraid of the dark, so it wasn't that.

Anyway, I quit having the dreams after a while. But years later, I'd remember it as if it actually happened. I mean, even to this day I couldn't say with 100% certianty that it didn't really happen. It's just, common sense tells me it was a dream. And I'm assuming they were reoccuring, else there's no particular reason I'd still remember it, or remember it like it actually happened.

[WayneFrancis]

Many abduction stories are probably people that where having "waking dreams".

I've accounted one of my experiences here (http://www.bautforum.com/against-mainstream/83170-dream-interpretation-zpf-universe-static.html#post1403301) in another ATM post.

false memories is one problem with human witnesses. Even the best of people sometimes can not distinguish the difference between real memories and what they might have invented subconsciously. Repressed memories, in my book, should be left alone. In bringing them to the surface you are more likely to introduce a whole bunch of false memories to boot.

[mugaliens]

It's one of many cognitive biases (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases).

Given your description in your OP, dodecahedron, I don't think deja vu, also called paramnesia, applies, nor does cryptomnesia. The former is a false memory of a current event, as you're experiencing it, while the latter is simply remembering that you you did or said something when it was really someone else.

What you're referring to, dodecahedron, is simply a memory that someone believes to be true, but is in reality, false.

A beautiful way to counter that is to keep a journal, into which entries are made as events happen. It's not perfect, but it certainly counters claims that certain events didn't happen, or major aspects of the event, such as location, particularly when you make an entry of the location while still at the location.

But what's this false memory called???

Van Rijn hit the nail on the head - it's called, simply enough, a false memory.

When many false memories come together to support a ficticious reality, it's called confabulation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confabulation).