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People remember information from 2 basic sources: external (perceptual processes) and internal (processes such as reasoning, imagination, and thought). Of particular interest are the processes people use in deciding whether information initially had an external or an internal source, ie," reality monitoring." A working model of reality monitoring is proposed to account for both discrimination and confusion between memories for thoughts and memories for perceptions. Examples of questions the model addresses are: What types of information are more likely to be represented in memories of external events than in memories of internal events?; What assumptions do individuals have about their memory for their thoughts compared to their memory for their perceptions?; and How accurate are these assumptions? Research that demonstrates the usefulness of the model is summarized.(100 ref)(PsycINFO Database …