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Observation inflation is one such error of source monitoring. It refers to remembering the actions of another agent as self-performed. While the existence of this memory error is well documented, it is not clear how it relates to other errors of source attribution: It is not evident whether the phenomenon reflects (1) a specific tendency to appropriate the actions of other agents, (2) a general confusion of sources with overlapping features, or (3) whether it is a confound induced by the complex structure of the conventionally used experimental paradigm. We conducted two online experiments to assess these potential contributions to observation inflation. Crucially, administering a full source monitoring test revealed a symmetrical pattern: Recognising other\u2019s actions as one\u2019s own occurred at the same rate as misattributing one\u2019s own actions to another agent. The findings resonate with source-monitoring frameworks by suggesting that source attribution errors arise due to the similarity of the sources, whereas the evidence speaks against a special status for appropriating observed actions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/17470218241306743","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,30]],"date-time":"2024-11-30T07:08:21Z","timestamp":1732950501000},"page":"2336-2354","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Observation inflation as source confusion: Symmetrical conflation of memories based on action performance and observation"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"78","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6693-5859","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bence","family":"Neszm\u00e9lyi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology III, University of W\u00fcrzburg, W\u00fcrzburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4429-1052","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Roland","family":"Pfister","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology III, University of W\u00fcrzburg, W\u00fcrzburg, Germany"},{"name":"Department of Psychology, Trier University, Trier, Germany"},{"name":"Institute for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (ICAN), Trier University, Trier, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Brady T. 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