We forget our infancy as we start to think like adults.
Why can't we remember our early life? It is a question I am frequently asked. The conventional answer is that our experience as a baby and toddler was so different that it is very difficult to retrieve those memories. And even if we could remember the memories themselves wouldn't make much sense to us.
New research from Emory University seems to support this.
BPS Research Digest: Childhood amnesia kicks in around age 7
The researchers also suggest that the mere act of remembering toddlerhood when aged 5-7 in this immature way may contribute subsequent amnesia through a process called "retrieval-induced forgetting". In adult experiments this is demonstrated where strong recall of one item on a list makes it much hard to recall related items learned at the same time. An experience we've all had in exams
when our minds go blank. For children focusing on an event they do remember may effectively wipe many related memories. Certainly, anecdotal evidence suggests that if we do have memories of early childhood we usually only have one or two.Speaking of which, what is your earliest memory?
Related articles
- Childhood amnesia kicks in around age 7 (bps-research-digest.blogspot.com)
- Babies are Forgetful - With Memories Like Sieves, It’s No Wonder We Can’t Remember Our Infancy - (dana.org)
- False Memories. How do humans actually remember? (peoplerant.wordpress.com)
