Hi, I am new and have not made a welcome post yet. I am trying to read everything first, but I had to say this: I have memories from before the age of two, that have been confirmed as such by family members.

I am sorry for your pain. I dit quite well, for reasons that I will explain in my future postings. It hurt me quite a bit to read what you wrote.
All my best,
LF

Read this today from the BBC.




The general public were asked to contribute three different types of memories: earliest memories, self-defining memories and flashbulb memories.

Flashbulb memories are memories of public events that also have strong personal resonance, where the date and place can be named as well as where a person was and what they were doing at the time.

More than 10,000 were posted on bbc.co.uk/memory and Professor Martin Conway has been analysing the findings with his team at the University of Leeds.

Dr Mark Porter – one of the presenters who launched the survey last summer – announces the results today on Radio 4 at 9am.

Throughout the day on Radio 4 a number of programmes explore the fascinating subject of memory and discuss the survey results in more detail.

The survey also suggested women have earlier memories than men.

One hypothesis for this is that the female brain may develop earlier than that of the male; another, that women and their mothers may be more likely to have conversations together in which they revisit and rehearse such memories.

Of the 10,000 memories received, 6,672 were childhood memories and 1,800 of these dated to before the age of two, with 700 before the age of one.

These 1,800 pre-verbal memories are a fascinating finding, as scientific literature argues that it is not possible for adults to remember an episode from a time when they do not have language.


LF

LF, I talked with my husband about not being able to remember before the age of two and he was quite furious. First off how does the age two become the guideline? If you're a week shy of two, does that mean we can't remember? My husband then told me a story of a time when he was still in his crib with a huge, saggy diaper on and was angry that his mother didn't show up when he wanted. He wasn't able to to walk so he used the bars of the crib to hoist himself to a standing position and sucked on the banister as he waited. That is his earliest memory. I"m pretty sure, since he was a huge baby, that this was about a year old if not younger. I've always questioned the scientific facts about how memory before the age of two cannot be remembered. There are studies of people going into hypnosis and were able to tell how they were born without knowing before hand. One woman said that she had a tremendous headache and was squeezed terrible around the head and her jaw hurt only later to find out that forceps were used in her delivery. All of this is very interesting to me. That the treatment of babies starting from in utero, makes a marked impact on their lives.

Nam, hi thanks for commenting…
Remember when it was considered a “fact” that infants could not see clearly?

That “fact” had since been debunked also. I’m uneasy talking in absolutes when dealing with neurological process. There is still so much we don’t understand about the human mind.
Take care,
LF