Why we do not remember himself in infancy
A Life / / December 19, 2019
Most of us do not remember the first years of life, starting with the most important moment - the birth - and up to kindergarten. Even within our memories are sketchy and vague. To answer the question, why is this happening, many years trying to parents, psychologists, neuroscientists and linguists.
So what's the deal? Because children absorb information like a sponge, forming 700 of neural connections in the second language and learning at a rate that would be the envy of any polyglot.
Many believe that the answer lies in the work of Hermann Ebbinghaus (Hermann Ebbinghaus), German psychologist, who lived in the XIX century. He first spent on itself a number of experiments to find out the limits of human memory.
For this series it was nonsense syllables ( "BOV", "GIS", "Loch" and the like) and memorizing them, and then checking what amount of information stored in memory. As confirmed forgetting curve, Also designed by Ebbinghaus, we very quickly forget the learned. Without repeating our brain within the first half hour forget the new information. By the 30th day only 2-3% retained received data.
Exploring the forgetting curve in the 1980s, scientists discoveredDavid C. Rubin.Autobiographical Memory. That we have much less of memories for the period from birth to 6-7 years than one would assume. However, some will remember some events that took place when he was only 2 years old, while others absolutely no memory of the events up to 7-8 years. On average, the fragmentary memories appear only after three and a half years.
It is particularly interesting that in different countries there are differences in how memories are laid.
The role of culture
Psychologist Wang Qi (Qi Wang) conducted a study from Cornell UniversityQi Wang.Culture effects on adults' earliest childhood recollection and self-description. In which he wrote down childhood memories of the Chinese and American students. As might be expected based on national stereotypes, Americans were more stories long and detailed, and much more self-centered. Stories of Chinese students, on the contrary, were brief and reproduced the facts. In addition, their memories on average began six months later.
difference the formation of memories confirmed by other studiesQi Wang.The Emergence of Cultural Self-Constructs. . People whose memories are more focused on self, remembering easier.
"Between these memories" In the zoo were tigers "and" I saw in a zoo tiger, they were terrible, but it was still very interesting "big difference" - psychologists say. The appearance of the child interest in itself, the emergence of their own point of view helps to better remember what is happening, because it is largely influenced by the perception of different events.
Then Wang Qi spent another experiment, this time interviewing American and Chinese mothersQi Wang, Stacey N. Doan, Qingfang Song. Talking about Internal States in Mother-Child Reminiscing Influences Children's Self-Representations: A Cross-Cultural Study. . The results remained the same.
"In eastern culture, childhood memories do not attach such importance - says Wang. - When I was in China, no one even asked me about it. If society is to suggest that these memories are important, they are no longer deposited in the memory. "
Interestingly, the earliest memories recorded in the indigenous population of New Zealand - MaoriS. MacDonald, K. Uesiliana, H. Hayne.Cross-cultural and gender differences in childhood amnesia.
. Their culture is very much attention to childhood memories, and many Maori remember events that took place when he was only two and a half years.
The role of the hippocampus
Some psychologists believe that the ability to learn comes to us only after we master the language. However, it has been proven that children deaf from birth first memories are of the same period as that of the others.
This has led to the theory that we do not remember the first years of life, simply because at that time our brain does not yet have the necessary "equipment". As you know, for our ability to remember answers hippocampus. At a very early age he was still underdeveloped. This was seen not only among men but also among the rats and monkeysSheena A. Josselyn, Paul W. Frankland.Infantile amnesia: A neurogenic hypothesis..
However, some events from childhood affect us even when we do not remember themStella Li, Bridget L. Callaghan, Rick Richardson.Infantile amnesia: forgotten but not gone. So some psychologists believe that memory is still stored on these events, but it is not available to us. So far, scientists have not been able to prove it empirically.
imaginary events
Many of our memories of childhood are often unreal. We hear from relatives of some situation, thinking the details, and over time it begins to seem to us his memoirs.
And even if we are mindful of this or that event, the memory can be changed under the influence of others stories.
So, perhaps, the main issue is not that why we do not remember their early childhood, and whether we can all believe even one memory.