Why don't we remember childhood memories? A scientific reason
has emerged.
Have you ever felt like a childhood memory is coming back to
you? Like the feeling of lying in a crib or the taste of the cake from your
first birthday? If so, there is a good chance those memories are not real.
According to scientists, most people are unable to recall personal memories
from their early years of life. However, new research has found evidence that
children begin to form memories while also understanding the world around them,
and this process starts much earlier than previously thought.
According to Al Jazeera TV, a recent study published in the
journal "Science" by researchers from Yale and Columbia Universities
has discovered that 12-month-old infants may also be involved in the process of
memory storage, and this process occurs in the part of the brain known as the
hippocampus, which is also responsible for storing memories in adults.
This study examined the brains of 26 children aged between
four and 25 months. These children were shown images of various faces and
objects, and scientists used a special scan designed for infants to assess
brain activity. Scientists believed that the type of memory that helps remember
specific events and their contexts begins to form only after the age of 18 to
24 months. However, the findings of this research have proven that this process
can start even before the age of 12 months, with some evidence found in even
younger children. It was also discovered that children begin to form limited
types of memories at two to three months of age, which include unconscious
memories and the ability to learn patterns that help recognize language, faces,
and everyday routines. However, the complete development of the hippocampus is
essential for maintaining these specific memories over time, which is completed
gradually.
According to Christina Maria Alberini, a professor of neural
science at New York University, the development of the hippocampus's ability to
create and store memories in childhood may be a "critical" stage.
This has significant implications not only for memory but also for mental
health and other brain disorders.
Generally, the human brain does not retain early childhood
memories for a long time, which explains why we forget them as we grow up. In
an ongoing study being conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Human
Development in Germany, it was found that 20-month-old children can remember a
specific toy and its location for six months, while younger children retain
this memory for only one month.
This phenomenon, where people are unable to remember experiences
from their early life, is called "infantile amnesia." Scientists
believed this might be due to children's brains not being mature enough to
store such memories. However, this new research has proven that children do
indeed create memories, but the big question is why those memories fade over
time.
One hypothesis is that new neurons are rapidly produced in
children's brains, a process known as neurogenesis. This rapid development can
erase or overwrite old memories. In a study conducted on animals, when
scientists reduced the rapid creation of neurons in mice, their early memories
were preserved for a longer time, resembling the memory of adult mice.
Another hypothesis is that language and self-recognition are
necessary for retaining specific memories, which are not fully developed until
the ages of three to four. Since the brain lacks the complete resources to
organize and retrieve memories before this age, early memories do not remain
accessible in later life.
Some experts believe that forgetting memories could also be
evolutionarily advantageous, as it helps the brain acquire general knowledge,
such as principles for understanding the world, without getting entangled in
unnecessary details.
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