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What's Your Earliest Memory?
spazoid12 writes "I've been curious lately about memory. For example, why is it that my earliest memory is from about 7 years of age? (I'm mid-30's now) Most people I know remember much further back. How far back can a person remember? Is there a theoretical limit? What are the requirements for acquiring memories? I've read that oxygen is one; as in actual breathed-in stuff. This is supposed to explain why you can't remember anything from within the womb. That seems silly to me. My own theory (with nothing to back it up) is that language is required. We spoke mostly Brasilian Portuguese and some Russian in the home up until I was about 5 or 6. We moved to Brasil for a year when I was 8 and I barely remember anything from that trip. I really don't know either language today-- could this explain why I have no memories of those years? What if I re-learned those languages now, 30 years later? Would memories flood back?"
Humans cannot physically remember events that happen before the age of two. Any "memories" that appear to come from prior to that age are either a) purposely or inadvertantly implanted by a third party ("remember when..."), or b) the result of typical happenings for a very young child. For example, many children fall out of bed at least once, so you may remember doing so too whether or not it actually happened.
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Inventor of the term 'pardon my French'.
...but I was 22 at the time! Ha!
Oh, the requirements of dating an Orthodox Jew. The relationship didn't work out, but I have no regrets. I feel so free and unencumbered, it's great.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
I drowned when I was 18 months old and while I dont have a step-by-step memory of it, I remember what it looked like and felt like quite clearly.
So how does zombieism work for you?
boldly going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse
Well, I recently cleaned up and threw most of my old hardware away, so the earliest I have is the stuff in my old 486.
My earliest memory was from when I was one year old. My father was carrying me down the stairs, and tripped. He managed to cradle and protect me, although he sustained a broken tailbone in the fall. I distinctly remember the arrival of the paramedics, the color of the room (brown), even the fact that the stretcher had 3 straps.
Incidentally, my second memory is of my father's return from the hospital, whereupon he immediately went to our kitchen and got some pretzels. I have no other memories of that house (we moved out less than a month later, though).
Anyway, I'm not a medical sort, but on the oxygen issue: I suffucated during my mother's labor due to complications in the birth, and was dead for a couple of minutes before I was ressuscitated. I have no idea whether that had any affect on my brain development, but I don't have cerebral paulsy (the most likely outcome of those circumstances), so who knows?
Incidentally, my sister acquired language at a much younger age than I did (she was forming complete, gramatically correct sentences at the age of 2), and yet her earliest memory is of preschool at age 4.
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
I can remember when I was 1 year old. Not a LOT of things, but I remember one thing, and that was a big red ball that I got from my mom. Of course it wasn't actually that big, according to my mom it was a tiny plush ball that was red and I loved it but my older brother took it and lost it outside just a short while after I got it. I also remember taking my first step. I had remembered it for a while but wasn't sure how acurate my memory was.. as in.. if it really was my first steps.. but sure enough.. I told my dad the story and he was floored that I could recall all the details. But it didn't suprise me because when I took my first step I stood up and I was under the kitchen table.. and I hit my head.. then I fell down, crawled out from under the table.. stood up and walked 3 steps towards my dad who was on the phone.. I was holding my head and crying. I remember my older brother was up on the counter getting the oat meal out of the cubbord. I remember when I was 3 and took off my swimmies and jumped in the pool thinking I could swim.. and then I sunk to the bottom of the pool and sat there thinking that I was really screwed... and then my father grabbed me outta the water and yelled at me. So I dunno what it is.. but maybe some people's long term memory develops quicker? I know that at age 3 I freaked my parents out when I said that I wanted to be an explorer.. my mom said "like Christopher Columbus?" thinking that she'd now teach me about him.. but I said "Well there isn't any thing left here to explore.. so I think I should die and then go explore there". lol
For example, why is it that my earliest memory is from about 7 years of age? (I'm mid-30's now) Most people I know remember much further back.
Almost everyone I know has what strike me as overly clear memories from when they were extremely young.. 2, 3 years of age. Often, I've found that when you talk to their parents or other older relatives, the story you get from them is almost word-for-word what the child 'remembers'. My guess is these are things that the child has heard many, many times in his/her life, and eventually forms a 'memory' around it. Sort of how some people hear a story about something happening and incorporate that into their stock of things they believe happened to them.
What we hear from others influences our own memories highly, it's amazing how many people can recall group events years later, even if some of them weren't actually present for something that occurred. Also, a child's sense of time is really out of whack - remember how long summer seemed to be? Things that happen when you're 5 or 6 can seem to have happened when you were much younger.
Memory is a very tricky, changing thing, even for recent events in fully cognizent adults. I don't find it surprising at all that childhood memories aren't terribly reliable nor consistent.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
I remember reading/hearing that the reason why we remember so few from our early years is that there is a hypothesis which states that our memory forgets in the younger years to protect our sanity.
You see, a young kid goes through very rough traumatizing experiences (falling down, being psychologically hurt when mother says no or leave for a few hours, etc...) Off course, these are benin experiences for us, adults, but for a new, undevelopped brain, they are tragedies. If we would remember those experiences, we might have developped some psychological problems. Forgetting our younger years would help us keep our sanity until the brain is well formed.
As I said, its a hypothesis I heared somewhere. If anybody got a link to this, please share it with us.
Remember the year 2000? They promised us flying cars. They delivered the PT Cruiser...
I remember when people, instead of bothering the rest of us with their moaning, just used their preferences to turn off the sections they didn't want to read about.
The most common explanation for early "memories" (like pre-3 years old) is that you had heard the story when you were old enough to remember, then incorporated that into your long term memory. You eventually think you remember it because it's been told to you before, and you come up with your own visual for the story. It's not really a memory of the event, it's a memory of your imagination when you heard about the event.
I was born in June of 1979. Mount St. Helens erupted in May of 1980. I live in Colorado and can clearly remember the effects of the eruption. I can remember wiping ash off the fender of my Dad's truck, and I remember my neighbor washing his white car almost daily for a week. I can remember tracking ash into the house off my bare feet. I suppose it is possible that these "memories" were implanted in my brain but I can see myself doing these things from a FIRST person perspective. This is why I don't think these memories were suggested to me by my parents or anyone else.
Son, I accidentally dropped you on your head when you were seven. That's why you can't remember anything prior. Sorry about that. If it's any consolation, you didn't have a very interesting childhood.
Love, Dad.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
My earliest memory is also of my birth. Before all you disbelievers say bullshit... this is no bullshit.
Very few people can remember their birth and it is rare indeed, but true nonetheless, and is very special for those who can remember.
Before my birth I was conscious, aware of myself and knew I had sisters, and one was particularly closer to my mother and me during my mother's pregnancy. And indeed she spent a great deal of time staying very close with my mother during the last couple months of the pregnancy. I remember waking up one morning expecting to hear my sister's and mother's voices, but in a way I really wasn't aware that my mother was my mother... I thought that she was just another sister "out there" too. Something was not right that morning. I knew I was being taken to see "Doctor Knight". It's very strange that I knew his name although of course I'd never seen him before, but I think I must have known who he was from my mother's office visits during the pregnancy. He had been the family doctor for many years and delivered two of my sisters before me. Anyway, I don't recall much of the labor, but I remember hearing Dr. Knight's voice and the voices of all these strange nurses. I had no idea what they were saying of course, but Dr. Knight had a very distinctive deep voice that I still remember to this day, even though he is long gone many years now. I remember that before all the commotion, that I was comfortable and feeling just fine, and I did not like this disturbing thing that was happening and wished it would go away. I wanted to go back to sleep and just be with my "sisters" and be comfortable again. Everything was suddenly becoming very harsh. All of a sudden everything was blindingly bright and cold. There was a very bright overhead light on the ceiling of the delivery room (like in a typical hospital of the 1960's) and the brilliance of this lamp was painful. All these strange big people were there moving around and talking frantically and I did not like them. Doctor Knight was the first person to hold me but I did not know or understand who he was now. I don't even think I was capable of understanding the concept that I was a baby and was being held by a giant adult. I just remember screaming and crying so intensely that I could not catch my breath and I could not stop crying either. I wanted to be back with the comfort that I thought was my "sister" (but was actually my mother). I do not remember much detail about what happened after that, except being exhausted and falling asleep again. That's it.
I am in my 40's now. My mother died of heart disease a few years ago. As I write this post, my tears are flowing quite freely right now.
To those of you out there who remember your own births.... keep that memory alive in you as long as you live. It's very important whether you like it or not. I know that I will remember it as long as I live, and that it will very likely be what I'm thinking about when it comes my time to die.
Peace.
Incidentally, my sister acquired language at a much younger age than I did (she was forming complete, gramatically correct sentences at the age of 2)
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Is she available for tutoring [of
Sometimes it's too easy.
"And like that
I know this sounds totally crazy, but I have vivid memories of being born
Bah, that's nothing! I remember going to a company picnic with my father and coming home with my mother! I got you beat by 9 months!
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Egads, this is a poorly informed post.
Peripheral myelin hits its peak around a year of age - it basically allows walking because feedback from the legs gets in sync with the motor commands.
But various parts of the brain continue to change myelin status through the first 6-7 years at least.
However, the lack of myelin doesn't imply the lack of coherent cerebral activity (although it certainly doesn't help).
Check any of the recent research on hypnosis, and you'll find that there is no way whatsoever to tell the difference between a recovered memory and an implanted memory produced while under hypnosis. While you are in a state of hypnosis, you are in a state where you have two things working against you - one, you are open to suggestion, and two, the mechanism for tagging the difference between things you remember and things you imagined stops working properly.
For a quick read-up, check this link from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation's website.
A quick read of almost any post-mortem on the whole "multiple personality disorder" craze of several years ago should also raise your skepticism. My roommate's own mother had her shrink succeed in giving her a case of dissociative identity disorder that she did not have before she started seeing this 'doctor' through a combination of hypnosis and directed questioning.
And don't think the professional hypnotists are going to give you an entirely truthful explanation of the benefits and risks of what they do - the fact of the matter is, if they admitted the truth, they would not only be jobless, but would be opening themselves to all sorts of malpractise suits. Asking a hypnotist if hypnotism works is a bit like asking a door-to-door vaccum cleaner salesman if his product really works.