Persuasive Essay

       W hen people think back and try to recall memories from early childhood, most are unable to do so. Only very few memories stay intact during adult life. A theory for why people forget the majority of their youth is "childhood amnesia," the lack of childhood memories. While there are many theories as to why this phenomenon exists, three influential factors are that babies and young children have a late-developing episodic memory, differences in early reminiscing, and an absence of language and structure. The average range of the amnesia is from age two to age eight, with the age of earliest memories being 3.5 years on average (Eacott 46). Researchers, such as Bauer and Simock and Hayne, could support the suggestion that perhaps the earliest memory dates around age 3.5 because of the third theory of childhood amnesia, the absence of language. To generalize, researchers assume that the older children become, the more cognitive capabilities they possess. While the range of childhood amnesia extends to age eight, most likely, more memories are retained from age eight than age two or even earlier, extending into infancy. As children age, the extent to which children have a late-developing episodic memory, differences in early reminiscing, and an absence of language and structure changes, making these three ideas the most significant in explaining childhood amnesia. 

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       One of the first theories for why people forget their childhood is the late development of "episodic memory." This type of memory is responsible for encoding and storing memories for specific events that have taken place (Bauer 415). Episodic memory is especially important because of its delicate and time-limited nature. Bauer contributes a meaning for this by explaining, "Episodic memory allows for rapid, even one-trial, learning of new information and for retention of information for later retrieval. As such, it provides the building blocks for cognitive growth during development and throughout the life- span" (415). Therefore, without episodic memory, a child cannot have proper development of memories, and eventually, the memories are lost. Researchers have found that children have an "identifiable semantic memory," the type of memory that deals with remembering large sets of information, such as words or numbers. When language development begins, the process goes quickly, and the children can retain many new words. However, when the children are asked to recall an event from their past, such as a birthday party or a day at school, they are stumped, unable to remember the events (Newcombe et al. 56-57). This concept is proven in a related experiment performed on "Remembering Early Childhood," in which the researchers explain that when children were shown pictures of their past and present classmates, they were only able to recognize 20% of the faces. When compared with adults, the research shows that adults could remember all of their past highschool classmates (Newcombe et al. 55-56). This study suggests that certain features of memory develop later in life. 

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       However, this late development can be overcome or made worse based on different reminiscing styles used by mothers. Reminiscing is when parents discuss and prompt the recollection of events with their children to spur episodic memory at an earlier age (Jack et al. 496). According to a study that examines maternal reminiscing styles, there are two mainstream forms of reminiscing: elaborative and repetitive (Jack et al. 496). The researchers say, "Parents who use an elaborative reminiscing style ask their children a range of questions about the event and provide a lot of richly detailed information about the event" (Jack et al. 496). A repetitive reminiscing style, on the other hand, involves revisiting only certain aspects of an event multiple times. It is arguable that if an elaborative method is used rather than a repetitive style, the child will remember more experiences. The study provides reasoning for the advantage of an elaborative reminiscing style in saying, "...it is not simply the amount that parents say about past events that is related to their children's emerging memory abilities; rather, it is the way in which parents discuss past events… that matters for children's memory" (Jack et al. 503). For example, reminiscing styles can compare with memorization as an adult. There may be some common knowledge regarding the idea that some study methods are more effective than others, even if the less efficient study methods are practiced more often. This idea is the same with child-parent reminiscing styles. In other words, the more intricate and more often mothers quiz their children about past events, the more likely children can remember those events, thereby strengthening and sparking early development of episodic memory. 

       A third explanation as to why people forget childhood memories is the absence of language in infants. If there is no structure for the children to put their memories into, the memories disappear (Eacott 48). It is not until children develop necessary language skills that "autobiographical memory," the memory of one's life (Fivush 561), can become solidified into "long-term memory," memories stored in the brain ("Memory"). After all, language is thinking. For example, how could one remember that a birthday party had balloons if, as an infant, they had no sense of what a balloon was? Researchers Simcock and Hayne performed a study to see if infants could recognize particular objects and people they had seen before. In other words, they were testing to see if the children did have a partial memory. They found that the infants remembered the objects and events through what Hayne and Rovee-Collier refer to as "perceptually based attributes" (Simcock and Hayne 225). In other words, the infants find different ways to remember, such as pointing to various objects or repeating the steps of a game previously taught. Despite this, the children were unable to verbally recall what they remember (Simcock and Hayne 225). Also, as discussed previously, without recall, it is difficult for the memories to stay in long-term memory. Without a vocabulary label on the object or event, how can one go back into their memory and pull out the information? In agreement with Simock and Hayne, perhaps the brains of young children alter themselves to remember things in a different method since there is no defined language. The brain finds a way to perform its primary functions in any way possible. 

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I       n conclusion, possible causes of childhood amnesia, the act of forgetting memories from childhood, can be attributed to physical differences and the underdevelopment of the brains of young children. Three possible reasons for people often forgetting things from their childhood are the late-development of episodic memory, differences in reminiscing styles, and the early absence of a structured language. The three reasons are intertwined. Children can remember and process "implicit memories," memories performed without direct conscious, but are unable to remember specific things and events (Newcombe et al. 56). A reason for this difficulty is the absence of language to put the encoded information into. Children may recognize information, but without language, the information gets lost over time. The information can also be lost if mothers do not use appropriate reminiscing styles. No matter how quickly young children develop language to keep their memories, if children do not practice memory retrieval with their mothers, or any family member or friend, the memory will never be ingrained into long-term memory and will be lost. Despite the intricate possibilities for explaining childhood amnesia, a study assessing the neuropsychology of memory in preschoolers adds an interesting perspective on how the simple behavior of the children could attribute to memory loss (Bauer 417). The study suggests, "Instructed to 'do whatever will help you remember later,' preschoolers do virtually nothing… They generally lack the meta-awareness of how memory works and as a result, employ few—and largely ineffective—techniques for aiding memory" (Bauer 417). In other words, researchers can examine the many reasons children have difficulty remembering things. However, perhaps when it comes down to it, children lack the drive and motivation to take hold of their cognitive abilities.