Children Can Recall Earliest Memories, Study Says

David De Lossy/Digital Vision(NEWFOUNDLAND, Canada) -- A study by researchers at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada suggests that young children can access their earliest memories from as far back as late infancy.  However, the researchers note that these memories begin to fade as the children grow older.

For the study, investigators asked 140 children ages 4-13 about their three of their earliest memories and how old they were when the memories occurred. The children's parents would then validate each memory and its timing. 

They found that the youngest children were able to recall memories from as far back as before the age of two.  However, when the researchers asked the same children to describe their memories two years later, they recalled a completely different set of memories.

Still, much older children ages 10-13 were able to recall memories on a more consistent basis.  Study leader Carole Peterson, a professor at Memorial University said that children lose part of their childhood as they lose memories growing up. 

"So our 'psychological childhood' begins much later than our real childhood," Peterson said. "And most of those events that previously were talked about, that caused laughter tears, are no longer accessible if they occurred in our preschool years."

The researchers concluded that very earliest memories are more vulnerable to forgetting.

The research was published in the journal Child Development.

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