Neuroscience
When it comes to psychologists identifying people's earliest memories, the approach they take matters a lot. That's according to New Zealand psychologists Fiona Jack and Harlene Hayne who say their finding helps explain some of the mixed opinion in this area of study.
For example, whereas most experiments suggest our earliest memories come from between the ages of three and four, some experts, Freud included, have suggested so-called infantile amnesia extends to the ages of five and six. Yes, people can recall memories from age three and four, these experts argue, but the lack of quantity and quality of people's memories from before they were aged six suggests fully-fledged autobiographical memory doesn't kick in until then.
To test this, Jack and Hayne divided 160 undergraduate students into four groups. One group was asked to recall memories from any time in their lives. The earliest memories recalled by this group were from the age of 6 years and seven months, on average. This reflects Freud's experience with his patients and findings from previous studies which have taken this approach.
Another group was asked to recall childhood memories – the earliest memories they recalled tended to be from the age of 5 years, six months. Finally, two of the groups were specifically asked to recall their earliest childhood memories (either with the help of cue words or not) – their earliest memories tended to be from the age of around three years nine months, whether they were given cue words or not.
The researchers said: “These results add to a growing body of research which suggests that the age of adults' earliest memories is relatively malleable, and varies as a function of the way in which they are asked to recall their memories”.
The research also revealed that earlier memories tended to be more emotionally positive than later memories and that more emotional memories tended to have more detail.
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Jack, F. & Hayne, H. (In Press). Eliciting adults' earliest memories: Does it matter how we ask the question? Memory.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
Tapping into people's earliest memories
When it comes to psychologists identifying people's earliest memories, the approach they take matters a lot. That's according to New Zealand psychologists Fiona Jack and Harlene Hayne who say their finding helps explain some of the mixed opinion in this area of study.For example, whereas most experiments suggest our earliest memories come from between the ages of three and four, some experts, Freud included, have suggested so-called infantile amnesia extends to the ages of five and six. Yes, people can recall memories from age three and four, these experts argue, but the lack of quantity and quality of people's memories from before they were aged six suggests fully-fledged autobiographical memory doesn't kick in until then.
To test this, Jack and Hayne divided 160 undergraduate students into four groups. One group was asked to recall memories from any time in their lives. The earliest memories recalled by this group were from the age of 6 years and seven months, on average. This reflects Freud's experience with his patients and findings from previous studies which have taken this approach.
Another group was asked to recall childhood memories – the earliest memories they recalled tended to be from the age of 5 years, six months. Finally, two of the groups were specifically asked to recall their earliest childhood memories (either with the help of cue words or not) – their earliest memories tended to be from the age of around three years nine months, whether they were given cue words or not.
The researchers said: “These results add to a growing body of research which suggests that the age of adults' earliest memories is relatively malleable, and varies as a function of the way in which they are asked to recall their memories”.
The research also revealed that earlier memories tended to be more emotionally positive than later memories and that more emotional memories tended to have more detail.
__________________________________
Jack, F. & Hayne, H. (In Press). Eliciting adults' earliest memories: Does it matter how we ask the question? Memory.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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We routinely envision future events, whether that be fantasising about next month’s beach retreat, or planning whether to hit the gym this afternoon before or after picking up the dry cleaning. New research supports the idea that we are able to conjure...
- Childhood Amnesia Kicks In Around Age 7
You could travel the world with an infant aged under 3 and it's almost guaranteed that when they get older they won't remember a single boat trip, plane ride or sunset. This is thanks to a phenomenon, known as childhood or infantile amnesia, that...
- Women's Memories Are More Speech-filled Than Men's
To gasps of surprise from some quarters, a spate of recent studies have shown that women don't talk any more than men do. But now Richard Ely and Elizabeth Ryan have looked at people's autobiographical memories and found that while women may not...
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Memories of child abuse, long buried, but suddenly recovered in therapy, have been a source of controversy for some time now. The fear is that such memories are false; that they are the product of suggestion, hypnosis, visualisation or other therapeutic...
- Disturbing Memories Caused By Disturbed Sleep?
Contributed by Lucy Rowe at Totton College. Whether it’s possible for memories of a traumatic experience to be forgotten, only to be recovered years later remains controversial. One concern is that people who report experiencing fragments of buried...