In a poignant exploration of memory, the podcast dives into infantile amnesia, revealing why we often forget early childhood experiences despite their significance. Personal stories intertwine with scientific insights, examining how caregiving and culture shape our recollections. Listeners learn about innovative experiments with toddlers and fascinating animal studies that suggest those memories might still linger in our brains. The discussion also uncovers the emotional impacts linked to lost memories and the complexities of memory retrieval.
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Colin's Missing Memories
Colin, at four years old, lost his dad and has few memories of him.
He recalls a sensory memory of his dad's drumming fingers but not his face or voice.
insights INSIGHT
Infantile Amnesia
Infantile amnesia, the inability to recall early childhood memories, affects most people.
This phenomenon entails forgetting episodic memories formed before three and a half years old.
insights INSIGHT
Theories of Infantile Amnesia
Infantile amnesia isn't unique to humans; many mammals experience it.
It may be linked to brain development, the cost of rapid learning, or an adaptation for independence.
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Some of our biggest achievements happen in the first years of our lives. Taking our first steps, picking up a complex language from scratch, and forming relationships with some of the most important people we’ll ever meet. But when we try to remember this period of great change, we often draw a blank.
After losing his Dad aged four, CrowdScience listener Colin has grappled with this. Why can’t he recall memories of such a monumental figure in his life, yet superficial relationships from his teens remain crystal clear in his mind? Colin takes presenter Marnie Chesterton to visit some of the significant locations of his childhood, places he would have spent many hours with his late father; and he recounts his earliest memories.
On this trip down memory lane, Marnie discovers the psychological reason behind our lack of early childhood memories comes down to a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia. Tomás Ryan, neuroscientist at Trinity College Dublin, discusses some of the theories behind this universal experience, and Sarah Power from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development discusses her groundbreaking study exploring this form of forgetting in real time. Elaine Reese from the University of Otago digs into how our environment and culture can influence the age of our earliest memories, and why some of the first things we remember might not be the big, huge events you’d expect. And we hear about fascinating new insights from animal studies that hint these memories could still be lurking inside our heads...
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producer: Julia Ravey
Content Editor: Cathy Edwards
Production Co-ordinators: Ishmael Soriano & Josie Hardy
Technical producer: Emma Harth
(Photo: Marnie Chesterton and CrowdScience listener, Colin, on the swings in Belfast.)
CrowdScience