> You might think you remember... when you were 18 months old, or that time you had chickenpox when you were 2—but you almost certainly don’t... People generally remember nothing from before age 3
I have distinct visual and auditory memories from when I was about 15 months old and going forward. I can still recall them in exact detail. These were not events anyone ever spoke of, to plant seeds as it were; it was many years later in my early teenage years when my parents were reminiscing about their first house in Texas that I recalled them to my parents and they were flabergasted. It had never occurred to me that not everyone (turns out most people, it seems) don't have memories going back that far.
Now, I don't think it makes me "special" — it's just something about how I remember things: very, very visually, kind of immersive "full screen" in my mind's eye.
"almost certainly don’t" is strong language - but they're not saying you don't. I'll interpret as meaning that most of our memories were "implanted" but by no means all.
I have very strong visual memories of events from when I was still in a crib to the present. Lots of those memories are from when I was alone so there was nobody who could have implanted them.
Also, neuroscience says (unless theories have changed) that all memories are "implanted" in that memory works like DRAM. Every time we remember something, it's getting retrieved and then written back to long term storage. It's a destruction-recreation process.
We moved out of our first house when I just turned 4.
Many years later as a young adult when we were discussing research on early childhood memories with my parents (specifically the theory that children form childhood memories seeded by parents retelling), I surprised my parents by drawing the layout of our home, my nanny’s house and the school. Like you, I have very clear visual memories and can remember scene very well (but people‘s face lack details which is logical considering that I’m incapable of recognizing people)
I remember our dog lying down next to me when I was a baby. Problem is, we didn’t have a dog when I was a baby. Maybe I invented the memory, maybe it was a different dog. Without any way to verify people’s recollections, these are just cute anecdotes.
True and in this case it’s hard to do research. But in my specific case since I could actually draw the layout and my parents verified it, I know that the memories were accurate. There is no other way for me to have that information, there was very little photos back then (film was expensive), we moved far away from that village and never came back so I couldn’t have gained the information afterwards but I could draw a layout and write out the color of the walls for each room.
That said how would you design a study to validate this? If parents or members of the family are the only ones with the information to verify this, it’s hard to eliminate the conflict of interest.
Also in the age of digital cameras children nowadays are much more likely to have a big library of photos or videos of their early childhood and be able to reconstruct memories based on looking at them later.
Take thousands of children, give them some kind of experience without explaining why, and without anyone they know being there. Then ask them questions about it 20 years later. Have control groups where parents and photos give them information - some true, some false - at different intervals.
Interesting thought experiment, though impractical and probably unethical. But without that kind of independent verification it’s impossible to say you can accurately recall childhood memories. While your story is harmless, it can get dangerous when people recall crimes that may not have happened in the way they think.
I can remember a handful of scenes dating back to age 2 or 3, and maybe a bit earlier. How well varies, like as I’m writing this my recall ability is somewhat weak, likely because I’m tired. If they happen to cross my mind earlier during the day when I’m more alert they’re fairly vivid, considering their age (~33 years).
Yeah it seems like memory is a graph and you need the right path to get somewhere. Sometimes distant memories only have a few ways in and you don’t have a world map.
I would say I have a poor to average memory and I can recall one mundane scene from being an infant. I was also creeped out when my 3 or 4 year old brother said he could remember being in the womb.
I remember my mother changing my nappy, she laid me on top of the washing machine. cant remember what age that was but it was definitely within the first year of my life.
I have distinct visual and auditory memories from when I was about 15 months old and going forward. I can still recall them in exact detail. These were not events anyone ever spoke of, to plant seeds as it were; it was many years later in my early teenage years when my parents were reminiscing about their first house in Texas that I recalled them to my parents and they were flabergasted. It had never occurred to me that not everyone (turns out most people, it seems) don't have memories going back that far.
Now, I don't think it makes me "special" — it's just something about how I remember things: very, very visually, kind of immersive "full screen" in my mind's eye.