Do you remember your second birthday or your first day of pre-school? Most of us would answer “no” to these questions. As adults, we can remember many events from middle childhood, around age 5, to the present day. Why can’t we remember earlier times?The inability to recall events before age 2 or 3 years old is called “Childhood amnesia“. Many theories have been formulated to explain this phenomenon. Most of them can be grouped into two camps: theories of faulty-encoding and theories of faulty-retrieval.

The faulty-encoding theories postulate that we are unable to remember because we do not create good quality memories. Most types of childhood memories are categorized into fragmented memories and episodic memories. Fragmented memories are the instances when we remember a scene of an event, but nothing else. Episodic memories are instances when we remember the context of the situation like feelings or situations.

Imaging studies in adults have shown the Prefrontal cortex active during the encoding of episodic memories. Faulty-encoding theories suggests that our Prefrontal cortex is not fully developed prior to age 2 (Newcombe et. at, 2000); therefore creating fragmented memories of our childhood.

The faulty-retrieval theories postulate that we can remember everything but we cannot retrieve them. Faulty-retrieval theories suggest that our memories are intact, but we are unable to retrieve them accurately. Their argument is based on the fact that memory components, especially the limbic system, are fully developed. That is why we can at early age recognize our caregiver’s voice, even in uterus, and discriminate odor. Some theories (Fivush & Nelson, 2004) support the reason for “childhood amnesia” is the lack of language mastery. Language helps us share and organize our memories.

What do you think? What is the oldest memory you have?
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