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It is not 4 years old. New study reveals when the earliest memories are formed in human life

It is not 4 years old. New study reveals when the earliest memories are formed

A new study suggests that on average the earliest events people can recall indicate they belong to the age of 2 and a half. The findings of the study, published in the journal Memory, delay by 1 year the previous conclusions of the average age of the earliest memories of a person's life.

They were presented in a 21-year study, which was based on a review of already existing data: "When someone's early memory occurs, it is more like a mobile target than a single static memory," he explains. child amnesia expert, and lead author of the study Dr. Carol Peterson, from Memorial University of Newfoundland.

"Thus, what many people say when asked to say what their earliest memory is is not a beginning before which there are no memories. "On the contrary, it seems that there is a set of possible memories from which adults and children take an example," she emphasizes.

"And we believe that people remember a lot from the age of two and a half. This happens for two reasons. First, it is very easy to get people to remember past memories simply by asking them what their earliest memory is.

Then they begin to recall even earlier memories. Second, we have documented that early memories are consistently wrong. "We constantly find that people think they were older than they really were in their early memories."

For more than 20 years Dr. Peterson has conducted studies on memory, with a particular focus on the ability of children and adults to recall their earliest childhood years. The latest study reviewed her 10 research articles on childhood amnesia, followed by analysis of published and unpublished data collected in her lab since 1999.

It contained a total of 992 participants, and the memories of 697 of them were then compared to the memories of their parents. In general, this shows that early childhood memories come from the time when they think it happened, as also confirmed by their parents.

Në disa nga hulumtimet e rishikuara nga Peterson, provat mbi zhvendosjen e orës së kujtesës sonë të mundshme janë më “bindëse”. Për shembull, kur u ri–shqyrtua një studim, i cili intervistoi fëmijët pasi kishin mbushur 2 dhe 8 vjeç që nga kujtesa e tyre më e hershme, ata ishin në gjendje të kujtonin të njëjtin kujtim, por në intervistat pasuese dhanë një moshë më tëvonë se kur ndodhën ngjarjet në fjalë.

“Tetë vjet më vonë shumë prej tyre besonin se kujtimet më të hershme i përkisnin 1 viti mëvonë”-thekson Peterson. Dhe ajo beson se kemi të bëjmë me një dukuri të quajtur “teleskopim”. “Kur analizon gjëra që kanë ndodhur shumë kohë më parë, është njëlloj si tëshohësh përmes një lenteje.

The farther away an event is from our memory, the "telescope" effect makes you see it as close as possible. It turns out that children shift their earliest memory a year ago, at the age of 3 and a half. But we found that this does not happen when the child or adult is remembering events from the age of 4 and up "- adds the expert.

After combining all the data, Peterson says they clearly show that people remember much more from their early childhood and much further back in time.

* Taken from bota.al