Take a moment and think back to your earliest memory. When you have one which you believe is the earliest, ask yourself what age you were at that time. This will vary between individuals but it is often around the age of three and a half years old. That is what has been the belief for several years. Over this time, many have reported memories going back much further with memories of having a nappy changed or being in a pram. This indicates that our memories begin earlier.
In answer to these observations, researchers believed that these very early recollections were false memories. They believed they were unconsciously made up because they perhaps had heard their parents talking about you being in a pram or having a nappy changed. Hopefully, the latter did not take place during dinner!
However, current research seems to indicate that our earliest memories may go back to when we were only two and a half. It also shows that there may be several factors involved as to how far back we can remember. These include nationality, gender, culture, family environment, order of birth and some others. It was found that repeatedly trying to remember further back, can result in extracting earlier memories.
There is one important question to answer. Is there any point in trying to access our earliest memories? Researchers say this is because it helps us to teach ourselves about our life narrative. If we can understand ourselves better, then it will contribute to us knowing what our strengths and weaknesses are. With such self-knowledge, it will help us to live our lives more positively.
John Pullen 