What About People Who Claim to Have Past Memories?

A common claim by those who believe in reincarnation is that they have past memories, or know someone who has past memories. So, what do we say about this? Well, there are many possibilities, so let's run over some arguments on what it could be and why it doesn't support religions such as Hinduism or Buddhism.

One thing that seems very likely is a condition called cryptomnesia. What is cryptomnesia? Cryptomnesia is a condition where are person looks at something, reads something, or hears something, then the person reduplicates the event believing it was a memory. The condition is very common and is one of the reasons why plagiarism is so common, it isn't the person's fault they fell victim to cryptomnesia.

It should also be noted the human mind is very susceptible to these kinds of thoughts just in general. The mind loves attention and can be easily influenced by the things around it. Anyone with kids or siblings can confirm this to be true. 

Some Hindus claim that since people have these past memories, this is evidence of reincarnation. The only problem is such a claim would contradict their own doctrine. I personally got hold of a Hindu, and they claimed the same. Stating they only obtain intuitive convictions from their past lives, all memories disappear. Even going on to state that many Hindus even believe remembering too many of their past lives can be deadly to the psyche.