Scientists have discovered that memories from early childhood are likely to be stored in the brain for life
Kyiv • UNN
The study showed that the brain retains memories from the period of childhood amnesia to adulthood, although they are not consciously remembered. The age of the first memories and their details depend on the cultural environment and upbringing.
Previously, researchers believed that young people's brains were not sufficiently developed to form lasting memories. Scientists note that the brain stores memories in the form of networks of neurons, and recall strengthens the connections between neurons, but memories may be limited by the inability to give language to early experiences.
Transmitted by UNN with reference to The Guardian.
Life as a child should be wonderful: you are fed, clothed and carried in soft bags, waved at and smiled at, but almost none of us remember how good we used to feel.
It is known that memories formed before the age of seven seem to deteriorate faster than when we become adults. At the same time, there are results of studies that make certain adjustments to the discussion of childhood amnesia.
Research in the 1980s showed that even two-year-olds can form memories and recall in minute detail events that happened months earlier.
Another fact is that early childhood trauma increases the risk of anxiety and depression in the future.
The paradox of childhood amnesia is: "How do these experiences affect our lives forever if they are forgotten?
Alberini's research has shown that memories formed during the period of childhood amnesia are actually stored in the brain until adulthood, even though they are not consciously remembered. But this is according to experiments involving animals. However, both in animals and in adults, the formation and storage of long-term memories of life experiences is impossible without a brain region known as the hippocampus. This area is also important for early memories, and it is suggested that infantile amnesia occurs because of a critical period when the hippocampus is developing through new experiences.
This makes a lot of sense with all the literature on trauma. If children are exposed to difficult situations in early childhood, they may not remember the details, but their brains will be shaped by these experiences
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The brain stores memories not as individual files, as on a computer, but as networks of neurons throughout the brain. Recall activates these networks and strengthens the connections between neurons.
This does not mean that memory is stable. Repeated suggestions can cause people to create images and form false memories.
In a 2018 survey, 39% of respondents reported that their first memories occurred at the age of two or younger. The researchers suggested that the "incredibly early" memories were fictional and based on photographs or family stories.
On the other hand, if the experience of our early stages-the first birthday, the first steps, the first trip to the beach-seems to be cached somewhere in the brain, why can't we consciously access it?
Psychologists argue that forgetting can be adaptive. But this doesn't explain why memories formed before the age of seven seem to deteriorate faster than when we become adults.
The influence of culture on autobiographical memory
Different experiences may also explain why the ages at which people recall their first memories vary considerably.
An interesting feature: Maori memories appear earlier.
New Zealand Maori have their first memories earlier than children of European descent, at about 2.5 years of age.
Professor Elaine Rees from the University of Otago, who studies autobiographical memory in children and adolescents, points to the strong emphasis on oral traditions in Maori culture, as well as detailed conversations during recollections of past events.
Reese followed groups of children from toddlerhood to adolescence and found that people who had a richer narrative environment in childhood could recall earlier and more detailed first memories in adolescence.
This applies to children whose mothers asked open-ended questions and were more detailed.
Recall
In their study, researchers from the University of New England, the Institute of Marine Science, and the University of Naples Federico II focused on the evolution of different parts of the human brainin search of what sets us apart from primates
