Can we remember what happened when we were just born?

The question seems simple, but answering is a big problem!

Many studies have demonstrated, usually an adult only remembers a few memories from 3 - 7 years old, despite the "help from family or family photo album".

What about memories from when we were born, can we remember?

The term was proposed by psychologist Sigmund Freud in 1899, to explain why most adults cannot remember their childhood memories.

Usually an adult only remembers a few memories from 3 - 7 years old.

Based on research from his own patients, Freud realized that this forgetfulness has its own benefits, helping them avoid re-installing "bad" memories that happened unconsciously.

Scientists have also discovered that children from 3 to 6 months can also form long-term memories (ie memories still "deep" in the subconscious).

But because at that time, the events that happened often happened intermittently, were not recalled by themselves during the first 3 years of life, so everything was sinking into oblivion.

But to go deeper, we need to learn about the following two characteristics of humans during that time:

Ability to encode memory in young children

To recognize memory, nerve connections (synapsese) between brain cells must be formed to receive information.

These data will be integrated by the brain, from which memories are formed. And for the memory to keep in our memory, it is imperative that we recollect, so that the neural links work, "rummaging" the memory for us. Unfortunately, this recollection in young children is a rare thing to do.

In order for the memory to be kept in our memory, we must recall it.

Other anatomical factors also contribute to the question at the beginning of the lesson. At this time, the prefrontal cortex (prefrontal cortex) , which was not fully developed before the first 24 months, when the number of links was still very small.

In addition, the hippothalamus responsible for the transition from the collected information of the senses to long-term memory is still truly developed until the child is 3 years old.

Language and ability to recognize memory in children

We may not remember what happened in the first 3 years of life, because we didn't know how to use language at the time.

In fact children can remember what happens in the first 3 years of life.

For that reason, we cannot describe what happened, and the information that we report next time may be misleading.

The ability to express words plays a very important role in memory formation.

This is a tool that helps "define" the feeling of yourself and the relationship around you. Unfortunately, this skill is only developed in children aged 16-24 months.

Another thing worth noting, in fact, children can remember what happened in the first 3 years of life, through the help of their parents through how to accurately recall the event by re-expressing it to the child, and often piercing reminiscent of what the child has done.

But this is only a minority, when the brain structure, language and expression are the most important role in forming memories.