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Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

raisingfutureadults.blogspot.com

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Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#21

Post by nostrademons »

tablespoon wrote: post #17
nostrademons wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably some genetic switch flipped or something. I can remember back to age 9 months. I tried writing out all my early-childhood memories ( I have one therapist friend who said that early memories are a sign of trauma, but then I've also had therapists that say early memories are a sign of giftedness. Maybe these are one and the same, and developing consciousness and memory too early is its own form of trau…

> I'd heard all my friends saying they basically couldn't remember anything before age 10, and I thought "bullshit", but apparently they're the ones who are normal and I'm the one who's a psychological oddity. That doesn't seem normal, either. I mean, they couldn't even remember a friend they had from first grade? Maybe they weren't prompted adequately.

Likely. When we first started dating, my wife said she couldn't remember anything before she was 10 (interestingly, this also included childhood friends), but after a few years of marriage I've definitely heard memories going back to age 3 or so.

I suspect there's another cognitive difference at work here too, where my wife says she doesn't bother remembering things unless she thinks they'll be useful later, while I tend to store all sorts of random events and facts and figure I'll just sort through them later. As a result all of her early memories have to be "cued" (specifically asked about, or recalled in relation to some other similar situation that came to mind), while I could tell you about the time I got dropped off at a babysitter's house age 9 months or the pony ride I had for my 3rd birthday or how I'd go with my dad to the Veryfine juice factory in Littleton MA to pick up cases of juice bottles for my lunch.

Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#22

Post by ScottBurson »

karlshea wrote: post #19
plank_time wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He doesn’t. He remembers his mom telling him about the incident and it has morphed into him thinking he remembers it. My kid swears he remembers this one incident that my wife and I joke about, but what he remembers is the video of it. You physically don’t have the brain cells for long term memories until around age 5 which is why most childhood memories start around there.

Well I have very specific memories from ages 3-5 and they couldn’t have been from someone telling me about it, so that can’t be right.

They may not be from someone telling you about it, but what you're remembering is mostly the previous occasions of recalling it. The original impression would be gone if it hadn't been occasionally reinforced by reconstructing it.

Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#23

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #4

That a 16-year old remembers such detail about age 3 seems… unusual. I don’t mean a memory here or there; this child remembers very specific experiences and the feelings he had about them when he was almost pre-verbal. Seems almost incredible.

It’s not unusual for adults to have good recall from about two years old onwards:

Childhood amnesia, also called infantile amnesia, is the inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories (memories of situations or events) before the age of two to four years, as well as the period before the age of ten of which some older adults retain fewer memories than might otherwise be expected given the passage of time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_amnesia

Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#24

Post by spoonjim »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #4

That a 16-year old remembers such detail about age 3 seems… unusual. I don’t mean a memory here or there; this child remembers very specific experiences and the feelings he had about them when he was almost pre-verbal. Seems almost incredible.

A 3 year old can remember something at 16 if they regularly recall it. It gets refreshed like DRAM. I do this with my kids for special memories. They can remember everything they did at LEGOLAND the day after. So I have them tell me about it, regularly, and they remember it permanently.

Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#25

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

tablespoon wrote: post #17
nostrademons wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's probably some genetic switch flipped or something. I can remember back to age 9 months. I tried writing out all my early-childhood memories ( I have one therapist friend who said that early memories are a sign of trauma, but then I've also had therapists that say early memories are a sign of giftedness. Maybe these are one and the same, and developing consciousness and memory too early is its own form of trau…

> I'd heard all my friends saying they basically couldn't remember anything before age 10, and I thought "bullshit", but apparently they're the ones who are normal and I'm the one who's a psychological oddity. That doesn't seem normal, either. I mean, they couldn't even remember a friend they had from first grade? Maybe they weren't prompted adequately.

It’s not unusual for adults to have quite poor recall of situations or events prior to age 10.

See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_amnesia

Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#26

Post by mongol »

erik_landerholm wrote: post #13
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #4

That a 16-year old remembers such detail about age 3 seems… unusual. I don’t mean a memory here or there; this child remembers very specific experiences and the feelings he had about them when he was almost pre-verbal. Seems almost incredible.

I felt the same way. I never buy it when people say they remember anything when they were two. I have 5 kids, one is only 2, but none of the other 4 remember anything from when they were two. I guess people can be different but I have a hard time believing it.

I remember how a ladybug tasted because I crushed one with my finger and put it in my mouth. Don't know the exact age but I were as old as children are when they do those things.

Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#27

Post by viztor »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #4

That a 16-year old remembers such detail about age 3 seems… unusual. I don’t mean a memory here or there; this child remembers very specific experiences and the feelings he had about them when he was almost pre-verbal. Seems almost incredible.

I actually remember a lot of things from age 3, less now, but likely more in details when I was sixteen. I got thrown over the shoulder out of nowhere while we are hanging out in the playground the first year I was in kindergarten (3 yo), then I was vomiting up blood, it wasn't entirely fluid with some kind of jelly texture, which clearly scared the kid and he ran away, I don't know that kid and I don't remember his face, but I remember the experience, the playground, the sun, there were two kids who'd come over and one of them throw me over his shoulder. I also remember when we went to the aquarium with my parents, where they had this stuffed dolphin and we bought it. Of course there are a lot more that I don't remember, but I'm aware of those things that I do. When I think about it is that the difference is when you ruminate over those things, it becomes a continuous experience. For the kindergarten incident, I was curious about the thickness of the blood, and I was thinking a lot why was it solid. And for the toy dolphin, every-time I was playing with it, I remember where we get it.

A side note: my mother majored in education, so she actually talks about Childhood Amnesia, which other's have mentioned, to other parents or teachers mostly. She told it that kid don't remember anything before five. So when I tell her things about the experience of my younger self when I was well in to primary school, she was perplexed.

Also: while I'm actively thinking about it, those memories came flooding in, and though I'm not going to put them here, I think it gives a valid point that yes one can remember at the age of three.

Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#28

Post by moksly »

plank_time wrote: post #15
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #4

That a 16-year old remembers such detail about age 3 seems… unusual. I don’t mean a memory here or there; this child remembers very specific experiences and the feelings he had about them when he was almost pre-verbal. Seems almost incredible.

He doesn’t. He remembers his mom telling him about the incident and it has morphed into him thinking he remembers it. My kid swears he remembers this one incident that my wife and I joke about, but what he remembers is the video of it. You physically don’t have the brain cells for long term memories until around age 5 which is why most childhood memories start around there.

> You physically don’t have the brain cells for long term memories until around age 5 which is why most childhood memories start around there.

If your research shows that I would strongly urge you to publish it, because that’s a groundbreaking find.

In reality, the brain reaches its “full” size of 90% of your body mass around the age of 3. 75% at the age of 2 and 50% at the age of 1 and 25% at birth. Every source we have in Denmark suggests that the human brain starts forming memories around 5 months into the pregnancy.

It is access to these memories that aren’t always present, and that access seems to depend on repetition in ages 0-2 and language development beyond that.

However, if the brain was physically unable to form memories before the age of 5, well… small children wouldn’t be able to talk, walk or even breathe.

Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#29

Post by [deleted] »

viztor wrote: post #27
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #4

That a 16-year old remembers such detail about age 3 seems… unusual. I don’t mean a memory here or there; this child remembers very specific experiences and the feelings he had about them when he was almost pre-verbal. Seems almost incredible.

I actually remember a lot of things from age 3, less now, but likely more in details when I was sixteen. I got thrown over the shoulder out of nowhere while we are hanging out in the playground the first year I was in kindergarten (3 yo), then I was vomiting up blood, it wasn't entirely fluid with some kind of jelly texture, which clearly scared the kid and he ran away, I don't know that kid and I don't remember his…

[deleted]

Re: Crazy Conclusions in Early Childhood

#30

Post by karlshea »

ScottBurson wrote: post #22
karlshea wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I have very specific memories from ages 3-5 and they couldn’t have been from someone telling me about it, so that can’t be right.

They may not be from someone telling you about it, but what you're remembering is mostly the previous occasions of recalling it. The original impression would be gone if it hadn't been occasionally reinforced by reconstructing it.

But that’s how all long term memory works, I don’t see what age 5 has to do with anything.
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