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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
Hi:
I am aware the average age at which long-term retention of memories is 3. What the earliest age known at which a person has had long-term memories that were retained in adulthood [i.e. something similar to the Guiness Book of Records for earliest memory]? I seem to be able to remember things that happened when I was 2 years old and slightly earlier. I am now 22 years old. I used to live in Stamford, Connecticut. I really like the house in Stamford, Connecticut. It was on 263 Strawberry Hill Avenue. I lived in that house for the 1st 2.5 years of my life. I was born on 10-22-83. It was my favorite house. But I wasn't in that house for the entire first 2.5 years. I had gone to India in '86 from January to July. I could differentiate Stamford and India from each other. I can remember returning from India to Connecticut. I recall feeling a sigh of relief after I came back to Stamford. After I came back we only stayed in the Stamford house for 3 days [well, my parents think it was 3 days! For me it felt much longer, even though I loved the Stamford house!] before moving to a borough called "Queens" in New York. I recall begging to go back to Stamford after we move to Queens. My family is Indian. There are some Indian songs that they played that remind me of the house in Stamford, Connecticut. When listening to those songs, I actally feel like I am in that house again! It is just so amazing and real. I can remember seeing one of my aunts in the hospital. This was when my aunt was giving birth to her son in September of '85. I obviously didn't know why she was in the hospital but I do remember her lying on a bed. I can remember her being very uncomfortable. This memory has been confirmed by my parents as the day my aunt gave birth to her son. During this, I was a month less than 2 years of age! Scientifically [at least in current research] what deteremines how early long-term memory starts, whether these memories are retained, and how long they are retained? Thanks, Green |
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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
"Radium" wrote in message oups.com... Hi: I am aware the average age at which long-term retention of memories is 3. What the earliest age known at which a person has had long-term memories that were retained in adulthood [i.e. something similar to the Guiness Book of Records for earliest memory]? I seem to be able to remember things that happened when I was 2 years old and slightly earlier. I am now 22 years old. I remember waving goodbye to my sister going to playgroup. She left playgroup when I was 1 year 9 months. I think it would have been at least 2 months before that because of the weather. Debbie |
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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
Can't answer the question about what science says, but I was briefly
hospitalised when I was young. I have a memory of the layout of the ward, of where my cot was in the ward relative to the doors, the windows, the other beds and cots, etc., and I remember standing at the bars and people talking to me and something about how I felt. For years I thought I must have made these memories up, because I was "obviously" too young to remember. Recently I checked with my mother: she confirmed that the details in my memory are actually right. Whilst of course we had talked about the fact that I'd been in hospital as I grew up (I have a scar from it), she's pretty sure neither she nor anyone else would have talked about the layout of the ward etc. - no reason to. I tend now to believe that it's a real memory. It's not inconceivable that I could have coincidentally imagined the right details, but there are quite a few of them - it seems more unlikely that I'd have got them all right by chance. I was 14.5 months old! That was very much a one off, connected with an experience that must have been stressful. After that, the next thing I'm pretty sure I remember is a mental event from when I was a bit over 2 (maybe 26 months), and "fullish" memory starts at the birth of my brother, when I was 3 years 2 months. Sidheag DS Colin Oct 27 2003 |
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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
Hi -- I have a few memories that date back to sometime between the ages of 12 and 24 months. I have a few memories of my grandfather, for example, and of my other grandparents house in Philadelphia. My 10-year old son has only just started *losing* memories that date from 12-24 months of age. (He commented on it recently, somewhat distressed. I think the loss has to do with entering pubescence.) It will be interesting to see what he remembers when he finishes adolescence. My mother remembers learning to walk. She was about 12 months old at the time, and can date it by the fact that the memory was at a house in Connecticut which they stopped renting when the country entered WWII. (Gas rationing.) All of my own memories of that period are kind of like mini videoclips. Sight, sound, but very little if any by way of story-line or emotion. --Beth Kevles http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner. NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would like me to reply. |
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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
Sidheag McCormack wrote: Can't answer the question about what science says, but I was briefly hospitalised when I was young. I have a memory of the layout of the ward, of where my cot was in the ward relative to the doors, the windows, the other beds and cots, etc., and I remember standing at the bars and people talking to me and something about how I felt. For years I thought I must have made these memories up, because I was "obviously" too young to remember. Recently I checked with my mother: she confirmed that the details in my memory are actually right. Whilst of course we had talked about the fact that I'd been in hospital as I grew up (I have a scar from it), she's pretty sure neither she nor anyone else would have talked about the layout of the ward etc. - no reason to. I tend now to believe that it's a real memory. It's not inconceivable that I could have coincidentally imagined the right details, but there are quite a few of them - it seems more unlikely that I'd have got them all right by chance. I was 14.5 months old! That was very much a one off, connected with an experience that must have been stressful. After that, the next thing I'm pretty sure I remember is a mental event from when I was a bit over 2 (maybe 26 months), and "fullish" memory starts at the birth of my brother, when I was 3 years 2 months. Sidheag DS Colin Oct 27 2003 Are there any sound that bring back your infantile memories. As I said, certain songs bring back memories for me. But not just songs. The tones on the AM radio [caused by electric/magnetic disruptions], the tones you get on the telephone when you dial numbers for TDD, and dail-up modem also give me a strong feel of the house in Stamford. Many electronic sounds tend to give this feeling of that houses. We had a radio receiver that was built-in to the house, so maybe this does make sense. The AM radio is usually full of audio interferences from surrounding electronic devices [be it from telephones, modems, fax machines, teletype machine, even a switch]. I have a Casio SA-11 Keyboard, it has some nice electronic sounds resembling that of common day electronic devices. |
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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
Radium wrote:
I am aware the average age at which long-term retention of memories is 3. What the earliest age known at which a person has had long-term memories that were retained in adulthood [i.e. something similar to the Guiness Book of Records for earliest memory]? Studies show that people actually start to keep long-term memories at around age 2. That is based on studies using babies at different ages and checking if they recall objects or rooms after two weeks. There is also a theory that long-term memories occur only with speech/language development. So, it is entirely probable that one would remember events shortly after one started to speak. -- Anita -- |
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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
Radium writes:
Are there any sound that bring back your infantile memories. No, curiously - my earliest memories are silent-film like, with the sense of communication but no actual sound. Of course, from the age of 3 or so I remember sounds. Sidheag DS Colin Oct 27 2003 |
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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
Irrational Number writes:
Studies show that people actually start to keep long-term memories at around age 2. That is based on studies using babies at different ages and checking if they recall objects or rooms after two weeks. Presumbly, though, it wouldn't be ethical to test the idea that younger children may remember especially traumatic events! For that we're bound to be limited to asking people who happened to suffer such events what they remember and then trying to check authenticity. Sidheag DS Colin Oct 27 2003 |
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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
Sidheag McCormack wrote: Radium writes: Are there any sound that bring back your infantile memories. No, curiously - my earliest memories are silent-film like, with the sense of communication but no actual sound. Of course, from the age of 3 or so I remember sounds. Sidheag DS Colin Oct 27 2003 Well, in my case, the memories are mostly visual, but certain songs/sound are what bring back those memories best. Last summer and in the summer of '96, I visited the outside of my old house in Stamford. The house did not really bring back much memories, because I have grown a lot since the time we were living the, so the house looked very different to me. In addition, visual stimuli is rather poor at causing flashbacks. Usually sounds and smells are the best manners at which memories are triggered. Most of my memories of that house are highly emotional and involve an extremely psychdelic and surreal feel, much like that of outer space and paranormal activity. No negative feelings in those memories. They are certainly strange but all positive. My ultimate dream would be to take myself back the time I was in Stamford and keep myself withing that timeframe, rountinely experiencing those lovely memories in physical reality. Sadly, thats not possible given the state of today's technology. I guess the best way for me to re-experience Stamford is to listen to those favorite sounds/songs of mine. LOL. Long-term memory has two components. One is the sensory-discriminative component [i.e. ability to see what happened in the past through those memories]. The other is the affective-motivational component [the emotional affects of -- association with -- those memories]. AFAIK, the affective-motivation component usually starts earlier in life that the sensory-discrimintive component. This probably explains to me why I can vividly feel those "Stamford" memories of mine but have a hard time explaining them [even to myself] objectively. |
#10
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Earliest Memories Remembered During Adulthood
my earliest memory is from age 26 months
it was October 1961, my parents bought a new 1962 Chevrolet, nd I threw a fit... "thats not our car, etc, etc,etc" took both parents , and the salesman to get me in the Chevrolet the first time |
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