Infants can form memories, just not the kind that recalls specific experiences
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.
In fact, there are lots of different kinds of memories besides those that are autobiographical. There are semantic memories, or memories of facts, like the names for different varieties of apples, or the capital of your home state. There are also procedural memories, or memories for how to perform an action, like opening your front door or driving a car.
The version for 6- to 18-month-old infants is similar. But instead of lying in a crib – which this age group just won’t do for very long – the infant sits on their parent’s lap with their hands on a lever that will eventually make a train move around a track. At first, the lever doesn’t work, and the experimenters measure how much a baby naturally presses down. Next, they turn the lever on. Now every time the infant presses on it, the train will move around its track.
Why not autobiographical memories? If infants can form memories in their first few months, why don’t people remember things from that earliest stage of life? It still isn’t clear whether people experience infantile amnesia because we can’t form autobiographical memories, or whether we just have no way to retrieve them. No one knows for sure what’s going on, but scientists have a few guesses.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Why Cathedral baseball is playing for 4A title: Big bats, solid defense and a sidewinderCathedral is back at Victory Field for the IHSAA Class 4A baseball state championship game Saturday against Penn.
Read more »
Why middle class San Franciscans are fed upOPINION: If like me you exist in that gulf between high and low end San Francisco (a renter with a a Muni pass), it can sometimes feel as if the only San Franciscans who get any attention are the wealthiest or the weakest.
Read more »
Why cryptocurrencies have gone from the next hot thing to a full-on meltdownBitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are plunging. Here's what to know about a market that just a few months ago was being touted as the future of finance.
Read more »
The Navy has fired a dozen leaders but won't explain whyThe Navy won't explain the firing of nearly a dozen officers in leadership positions in less than three months
Read more »
Juneteenth: The significance of the holiday and why its celebrated and commemorated'The holiday is important to reflect on freedom and reflect on who we are as a nation and who we want to be as a nation,' a museum curator explains.
Read more »