====== Childhood amnesia ====== //Childhood Amnesia// refers to the inability of adults to remember events from their infancy and early childhood. Typically, most people can't accurately remember anything form their very early life - i.e. before 2yrs, and in some individuals up to 6yrs. In general, the number of accurately recalled memories tends to increase gradually as a function of age (within limits). Proposed explanations for this universal phenomenon go back as far as the times of the Ancient Greek philosophers. Theories include the ideas, for example, that : [1] The brain has not yet developed an efficient memory system in early years [2] The very early memories //are// stored, but access is lost later in life [3] The brain has some kind of age-selective 'forgetting' mechanism None of the explanations have currently been accepted as a full science-based explanation. Research efforts are hampered by the difficulties associated with memories in general - which are notoriously unreliable. For example, people may be convinced that they can accurately recall a very early memory, when in reality they are recalling a photo they were shown later in their childhood. Further reading : [[https://web.archive.org/web/20151106160604/http://bernard.pitzer.edu/~dmoore/psych199s03articles/EacottMemory.pdf|Memory for the Events of Early Childhood]]{{:oa_padlock_grn.png?16}} //Current Directions in Psychological Science//. 8 (2): 46–48 [ archived ] Note: //Sigmund Freud// famously presented several claims about //Childhood Amnesia,// but without any scientific evidence of any kind to back them up. ---- Also see : [[content:psychology:general:memory]] and [[content:psychology:general:fogetting]]