Researchers at Yale have uncovered new insights into why we don’t remember early childhood experiences. Long-held beliefs attributed memory limitations to the immature hippocampus, which develops into adolescence. However, the new study indicates that the inability to recall these experiences may stem from access issues rather than storage problems. Experiments conducted with 26 infants revealed that when familiar images were shown alongside new ones, infants demonstrated recognition. This could reshape our understanding of memory development and retention in infancy, highlighting that babies might recognize experiences even if they can't verbally express them.
When babies have seen something just once before, we expect them to look at it more when they see it again, said Professor Nick Turk-Browne.
Scientists have discovered why we don’t remember being a baby, despite learning so much in those early years of life, suggesting we just can’t access them.
The part of the brain responsible for saving memories, the hippocampus, is still developing well into adolescence and thus can’t encode memories in early life.
By showing 26 infants an image of a new face or object and later testing them, researchers could assess memory recognition at an early age.
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