Infantile amnesia

Childhood amnesia
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Childhood amnesia, also called infantile amnesia, is the inability of adults to retrieve episodic memories which are memories of specific events (times, places, associated emotions, and other contextual who, what, when, and where) before the age of 2–4 years, as well as the period before age 10 of which adults retain fewer memories than might otherwise be expected given the passage of time. The development of a cognitive self is also thought by some to have an effect on encoding and storing early memories. Some research has demonstrated that children can remember events from the age of 1, but that these memories may decline as children get older. Most psychologists differ in defining the offset of childhood amnesia. Some define it as the age from which a first memory can be retrieved. This is usually at the age of 3 or 4, but it can range from 2 to 8 years. Changes in encoding, storage and retrieval of memories during early childhood are all important when considering childhood amnesia. Some other research shows differences between gender and culture, which is implicated in the development of language. Childhood amnesia is particularly important to consider in regard to false memories and the development of the brain in early years. Proposed explanations of childhood amnesia are Freud's trauma theory (which is not supported by evidence and is generally discredited), neurological development, development of the cognitive self, emotion and language.

Childhood amnesia was first formally reported by psychologist Caroline Miles in her article "A study of individual psychology", published in 1893 by the American Journal of Psychology. Five years later, Henri and Henri published a survey showing that most respondents’ earliest recollections occurred between the ages of two and four. In 1904 G. Stanley Hall noted the phenomenon in his book, Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion and Education. In 1910, Sigmund Freud offered one of the most famous and controversial descriptions and explanations of childhood amnesia. Using psychoanalytic theory, he postulated that early life events were repressed due to their inappropriately sexual nature. He asserted that childhood or infantile amnesia was a precursor to the ‘hysterical amnesia,’ or repression, presented by his adult patients. Freud asked his patients to recall their earliest memories and found that they had difficulty remembering events from before the ages of 6–8. Freud coined the term "infantile" or "childhood amnesia" and discussed this phenomenon in his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. In 1972, Campbell and Spear published a seminal review about childhood amnesia in Psychological Sciences recapping the research conducted to understand this topic from neurological and behavioral perspectives in both human and animal models.

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