I know this is off topic but I found it fascinating. Dear husband was reading an article in The Week magazine by Kristin Ohlson and I happened to see it. The subject is what Sigmund Freud called Childhood Ammesia.
What is your earliest memory? Not the story the family has told so many times that you think you remember, your earliest independent memory. For most of us, we may have sketchy memories, more like impressions, from age three or four, but not full memory of events until about age seven. It's not that young children aren't remembering things at a young age. It's that they don't form permanent memories. Ask a two and a half year old about something that happened when he was two, a trip or a birthday party - something memorable - and he remembers it and can talk about it. Fast forward to age four or five and he has no recall of the event at all.
Whatever is going on as to development in the brain, the memory thing doesn't fully happen until we are about seven. Before that, while we do have some memories, they are small vignettes filled more with emotion than with details. As a parent we may be trying to create these perfect movie moments for our child but, in spite of our best efforts, they may not remember the family vacation to Disney World at all but can vividly recall the popcorn machine in the lobby of the hotel where you stayed traveling to the theme park on I-95.
That's not to say all those wonderful bonding moments were a waste of time and energy. While they are not remembered, impressions and emotions are created and become part of the equation of who we become, who we are.
Reading the article caused me to call my sister. I remembered an epic snow fall and walking, with her, through shoveled paths where the walls of the paths were much higher than my head. It had the effect of being in a frozen maze. I wanted to know what year that might have been. Since she is four years older than I, was sure she would remember it perfectly. Well, my memories are not her memories, she did not recall the snow, the paths, the events at all. A little internet searching revealed the record snowfall in November the year I had just turned four. Obviously the whole experience made a much greater impression on me than on her.
Anyway, when the family conversation around the dinner table lags next big holiday, ask the question, "What is your earliest memory?" It may totally surprise and amaze you.
http://youtu.be/78Ruh0ewBVo
What is your earliest memory? Not the story the family has told so many times that you think you remember, your earliest independent memory. For most of us, we may have sketchy memories, more like impressions, from age three or four, but not full memory of events until about age seven. It's not that young children aren't remembering things at a young age. It's that they don't form permanent memories. Ask a two and a half year old about something that happened when he was two, a trip or a birthday party - something memorable - and he remembers it and can talk about it. Fast forward to age four or five and he has no recall of the event at all.
Whatever is going on as to development in the brain, the memory thing doesn't fully happen until we are about seven. Before that, while we do have some memories, they are small vignettes filled more with emotion than with details. As a parent we may be trying to create these perfect movie moments for our child but, in spite of our best efforts, they may not remember the family vacation to Disney World at all but can vividly recall the popcorn machine in the lobby of the hotel where you stayed traveling to the theme park on I-95.
That's not to say all those wonderful bonding moments were a waste of time and energy. While they are not remembered, impressions and emotions are created and become part of the equation of who we become, who we are.
Reading the article caused me to call my sister. I remembered an epic snow fall and walking, with her, through shoveled paths where the walls of the paths were much higher than my head. It had the effect of being in a frozen maze. I wanted to know what year that might have been. Since she is four years older than I, was sure she would remember it perfectly. Well, my memories are not her memories, she did not recall the snow, the paths, the events at all. A little internet searching revealed the record snowfall in November the year I had just turned four. Obviously the whole experience made a much greater impression on me than on her.
Anyway, when the family conversation around the dinner table lags next big holiday, ask the question, "What is your earliest memory?" It may totally surprise and amaze you.
http://youtu.be/78Ruh0ewBVo
What an interesting topic ! Coincidentally, my earliest childhood memory also involves snow ! It had to do with throwing snowballs and the snowsuit I was wearing. Age at the time? Less than 3. Now I can't remember what I went to the grocery store to buy. Guess that involves short term rather than long term memory.
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