Predicting Which Childhood Memories Persist: Contributions In Memory Characteristics

Memory is divided into three categories. These categories consist of: sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory, out of these short term memory is the main focus in this essay. It has been widely researched due to interest of how much memory can be stored, how long this memory can be stored for and what information is memorised.

1 Background The hypothesis that remembering should be viewed as reconstructive originates from an important book by Sir Frederic Barlett (1932). Barlett compared the two forms of memory – reproductive (remembering a phone number) and reconstructive (remembering sixth grade) and declared that the second was a more standard use of memory outside laboratory and educational circumstances. He argued that

Memory is the retention of information over time and it changes through our lifespan, from infancy through adulthood (Santrock 218). There are two types of memory, explicit and implicit.

Memory is a set of cognitive processes that allow us to remember past information (retrospective memory) and future obligations (prospective memory) so we can navigate our lives. The strength of our memory can be influenced by the connections we make through different cognitive faculties as well as by the amount of time we spend devoting to learning specific material across different points in time. New memories are created every time we remember specific event, which results in retrospective memories changing over time. Memory recall can be affected retrospectively such as seeing increased recall in the presence of contextual cues or false recall of information following leading questions. Memory also includes the process

Middle childhood is a marker for major psychological developments involving emotions’ effects on memory. A child’s mind more clearly encodes experiences and allows for memories

Many human development specialists have examined memory loss of adults later in life. During the past fifty years, there have been many studies in children’s cognitive development and earlier childhood memory loss. Ernest G. Schachtel conducted studies on why people forget childhood memories as they grow older. He described the processes that could be involved in early memory loss (Crain, 2005). He was influenced by Sigmund Freud’s cognitive theory (Crain, 2005). Lev S. Vygotsky, however, described children’s early memory development as a holistic process that involved society, physiological, cultural, and economical environments. (Vygotsky,

All of this research tells me that we need to broaden out ways of thinking of memory. It is not simply a process in which, if you can tell me what happened, then you remember it, if you can’t, then you simply have no memory of the event. As we have discussed in class and in Discussion Board, your body remembers. It makes sense that we can extend this concept to “pre-memory” infancy or childhood.

Karen Salmon and Elaine Reese analyze The Benefits of Reminiscing With Young Children (2016) in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science. Though it is common knowledge that speaking to one’s child is a significant factor in the child’s future success and intelligence, Salmon and Reese argue that not all talk is created equal. According to them, there are significant benefits to specifically talking about the past in an elaborate and emotion-rich way. Benefits include increased emotional intelligence, increased autobiographical capacity, and overall memory benefits, which are accessible regardless of socioeconomic status, history of maltreatment or psychopathology.

Understanding the boundaries of childhood amnesia has become a large discussion among researchers. Over the years, researchers have developed multiple theories of the boundaries of childhood amnesia for adults, adolescents, and as well for children by using different methodology of measurement (Usher & Neisser, 1993; Eacott & Crawley, 1998; Macdonald et al., 2000; Peterson et al., 2000; Tusin and Hayne 2010; Wang & Peterson, 2014 & 2016). Childhood amnesia occurs when adults are unable to recall memories from their childhood. Although, this definition is still up for debate on whether or not childhood amnesia only occurs for adults, a specific gender, specific cross-cultural difference, or if the boundaries fluctuate over development (Macdonald et al., 2000; Peterson et al., 2000; Wang & Peterson, 2014). While there are still many variables researcher’s must consider when studying childhood amnesia, there is a common theme that arises throughout the research. Researchers are intrigued in the boundaries of childhood amnesia and how using different methods provides different might alter the perspectives and outcomes for how long childhood amnesia lasts after birth (Usher & Neisser, 1993; Eacott & Crawley, 1998; Macdonald et al., 2000; Peterson et al., 2000; Tusin and Hayne 2010; Wang & Peterson, 2014 & 2016). This literacy research review will discuss how the finding within each research method of measurement changes perspectives on how long childhood amnesia last after

Over the last thirty years, the idea of children as witnesses and the accuracy of their testimony has been widely debated. People are asking themselves if the memories of young children, specifically between the ages of five and ten, can be accurate and in return trusted. So, can children’s memory and testimony be accurate? Prolific amounts of research have been conducted in an attempt to answer this question. Most of the research suggests that unfortunately we can not rely on their accurate recall in testimony. I would have to say I agree with the findings.

A fundamental aspect of human memory is that the more time elapsed since an event, the fainter the memory becomes. This has been shown to be true on a relatively linear scale with the exception of our first three to four years of life (Fitzgerald, 1991). It is even common for adults not to have any memory before the age of six or seven. The absence of memory in these first years has sparked much interest as to how and why it happens. Ever since Freud (1916/1963) first popularized the phenomenon there have been many questions and few robust empirical studies. Childhood amnesia is defined as the period of life from which no events are remembered (Usher & Neisser, 1993) beginning at birth and ending at the onset of your

When we ask people to recall experiences, they rarely report memories dating from much before about three years of age. For the purpose of this assessment I have chosen the ‘Childhood Amnesia and the Beginnings of Memory for Four Early Life Events’ conducted by JoNell A. Usher and Ulric Neisser, published in 1993 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Therefore, in the following paragraphs I will outline the aim of the study, the methodology and the overall findings.

Memory makes us. It is, to an extent, a collection of unique and personal experiences that we, as individuals, have amassed over our lifetime. It is what connects us to our past and what shapes our present and the future. If we are unable remember the what, when, where, and who of our everyday lives, our level of functioning would be greatly impacted. Memory is defined as or recognized as the “sum or total of what we remember.” Memory provides us the ability to learn and adjust to or from prior experiences. In addition, memory or our ability to remember plays an integral role in the building and sustaining of relationships. Additionally, memory is also a process; it is how we internalize and store our external environment and experiences. It entails the capacity to remember past experiences, and the process of recalling previous experiences, information, impressions, habits and skills to awareness. It is the storage of materials learned and/or retained from our experiences. This fact is demonstrated by the modification, adjustment and/or adaptation of structure or behavior. Furthermore, we as individuals, envision thoughts and ideas of the present through short-term memory, or in our working memory, we warehouse past experiences and learned values in long-term memory, also referred to as episodic or semantic memory. Most importantly, memory is malleable and it is intimately linked to our sense of identity and where we believe we belong in the world.

There are two main types of memory, short term and long term. The key part to our brain

I find that I can only recall long-term memories if they are important to me, or if they are dramatic experiences. A few examples of my childhood memories are my mother reading to me, my grandfather playing his guitar, and my dad relentlessly teaching me how to ice skate, no matter how many times I fell.