Tristan Yates, a cognitive neuroscientist, highlights the common phenomenon of childhood amnesia, where individuals have no recollection of their infancy. Recent research suggests babies do form memories but these may not be retrievable later. Crucial developmental milestones, such as language acquisition and emotional bonding with parents, occur during this early period of memory formation. Experts emphasize that understanding infant memory is key to grasping long-term cognitive development, despite the challenges of studying infants due to their unpredictable behavior in scientific settings.
"I was about three and a half in Callaway Gardens in Georgia, just running around with my twin sister trying to pick up Easter eggs."
"But all of us lack memories from our infancy. Is that because we don't make memories when we're babies, or is there something else responsible?"
"That's the period of by far the greatest plasticity across your whole life span. Understanding how your brain learns and remembers in infancy lays the foundation for everything you know and do for the rest of your life."
"Infants in many ways are the worst possible subject population. They don't understand instructions and can't remain still for fMRI scans."
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