Yuhaen - Week 13: Fickle Memories
Most of us can probably recall what we ate yesterday or recall the names of our fourth-grade teachers. Some of us might even remember hazy memories from when we were four. But try to think back further. How far can you go? For most people, their memories fade at around the age of three. Those who claim to remember memories before the age of three usually unknowingly fabricate memories, blend dreams, and weave random anecdotes into memories that feel real. Memory is not as reliable as we think.
Our memories are fickle at around the age of three due to a phenomenon known as “childhood amnesia.” Childhood amnesia is a result of the immature hippocampus being unable to store memories from when you are born to around the age of three. Additionally, emotional content is found to have a corollary relationship with memory accuracy: negative emotions contribute to erroneous memories while positive emotions increase their accuracy. Confirmation bias also plays a role in the accuracy of our memories. We tend to remember information that aligns with our existing beliefs, which reinforces these beliefs while looking past erroneous memories.
We can attribute our unreliable memory before the age of three to other factors as well. For example, language acquisition plays an important role in remembering memories. Before the age of three, most do not have the necessary language skills to verbalize experiences, which makes early memories practically inaccessible. Another overlooked factor is our differing recalling cues from when we were younger to now. For example, when we were younger, we may have recalled memories by associating them with sensory details or feelings. As we get older, we may outgrow these retrieval cues and use different techniques for recalling things. However, some memories can only be unlocked using certain recalling techniques.
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Hi Yuhaen! I like psychology, so hearing your explanation of childhood amnesia reminded me of how we studied it a few weeks back in AP Psych. I thought it was interesting how you looked at the biological influences alongside the psychological effects of misremembering different memories.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not think I have a very good memory, so I’m always surprised when people talk about recalling detailed memories from when they were younger than 7 years old! I would have loved to hear more about specifically how memories may be unlocked without having the bias of suggestion. I also think the value of effective recalling techniques is important because of how we unknowingly fabricate memories. That fact alone highlights the idea that the correct methods are crucial for avoiding fake memories and fully accounting for our childhood.
It was nice to hear about childhood amnesia and your careful breakdown of it. Thank you for sharing, Yuhaen!
Hello Yuhaen. I really liked your Blog as it talked about something that was really interesting to me. I think that the fact that we are unable to remember our childhood for approximately the first three years of our lives really speaks volumes on how crazy and advanced the human body actually is. Also, I found it quite amazing that our hippocampus is always able to transform and become larger or smaller due to various lifestyle factors. I believe that memory is something that plays a huge role in the character development of human beings in this world. The positive memories are reinforced by the overall impact they have on our present-day lives, and the negative ones can possibly be something that teaches us a lesson or an important life skill.
ReplyDeleteYo, Yuhaen. Your blog got me thinking. I can estimate my earliest consistent memories to start around the age of 4-5 with extremely brief flashes of moments around age 3. I feel my childhood was largely insignificant due to how casual or how little I cared about my circumstances. I never saw a reason or a prompt to critically question or study some part of my day to day life aside from negative memories like you detail. For the most part, critters and negative moments absolved to surface most in my memories. Growing up, I felt memories were made grand through absorbing other memories. I realized a few years ago that negative memories did just that: reducing fun days or trips into moments of self-empathy or sourness. But I soon theorized a connection between this topic and one of my own.
ReplyDeleteFor a few years now, I’ve been made aware and reminded of “gaining consciousness” at some point in childhood. I find the topic interesting as up until that point, the body and identity one had before would (and in my experience) seem entirely alien in both personality and interests. Obviously, one wouldn’t have matured or found hobbies as much as a high schooler would. I theorize that like you said, “”childhood amnesia”” is partly to blame due to the short-term absence of memory right after gaining consciousness.
In any case, I appreciate how informative and detailed your blog was. Citing several articles and points of specific information made it much clearer and easier to understand even without optionally (I read each one) reading. Thanks for the informative lesson on memory’s limits and inception, Yuhaen. See you Friday. - Rafael Montes Barrera