Remembering your Younger Days

Alexander FosterApril 1, 2014

“Children With Hula Hoops” image courtesy Dreamstime

Why can’t humans remember their childhood days?

Why?

“Curiosity Man” image courtesy Dreamstime

• Curiosity

• Memory has always been a mystery topic to me

• One hypothesis is that our brains were underdeveloped at a young age and we were not able to retain much information.

“Hand holding tiny brain” image courtesy of Dreamstime

•According to Shouse (2011), we will be able to recognize items (semantic memory), but we won’t be able to commit scenes to memory (episodic memory).

• According to Davis (2012), Underdeveloped language skills play a part in inability to recall childhood.

“Healthy visitor talking to mother with young baby” image courtesy Dreamstime

“Baby girl celebrating her first birthday and clown” image courtesy Dreamstime

“Memory Lane” image courtesy Dreamstime

According to Badeley (2004) “One argues that the memory simply fades away or decays way like a billboard that is exposed to sun and rain gradually fades until it becomes quite illegible.”Badeley also suggests that forgetting

occurs because memory traces are disrupted or obscured by subsequent learning, in other words that forgetting occurs because of interference.

Primary Research – Age v. childhood amnesia I guessed that age had to do

with not being able to recall childhood memories. The older you get, the less you remember.

• I interviewed three of my family members of different ages, my mother, my older brother, and my little cousin to see what age their earliest childhood memory occurred.

“Memory Loss” image courtesy Dreamstime.

Results Name Age Earliest

MemoryAge of earliest memory

Why is it your earliest memory?

Lola (mother)

53 Catching bus to school

8 – 9 It was a city bus and she was young and scared.

Tony (brother)

21 Falling off of bike

4 Most pain he felt up until that point.

Also still has scar.

Quinn (cousin)

14 Playing volleyball with her mother

5 - 6 Loves playing volleyball now and

remembers when she

plays today.

Results My 21 year old brother was able to recall the

earliest childhood memory of all of my interviewees, which was falling off of his bike at age 4.

My 14 year old cousin was able to recall the second most, which was playing volleyball with her mother at age five or six.

My 53 year old mother recalled the least, which was catching the bus to school everyday around age 8 or 9.

1.

2.3.

Analysis of resultsI hypothesized my cousin would remember the

furthest back, but after looking deeper into research I realized my results were accurate.

• My brother is around the age where the brain becomes fully developed.•My brother also has his earliest memory rekindled frequently.• My little cousin’s brain is still developing.• My mother’s memory is beginning to fade.

“Light bulb handing over business man’s head” image courtesy Dreamsimte

What I learnedI learned a lot about

different types of memory, brain development, and tricks to being able to recall memories.

I learned how to conduct an interview through primary research and how to analyze the data.

I learned the correct way to cite references using apa format.

“Keyboard with key learn” image courtesy Dreamstime

References Badeley, A. D. (2004). Your Memory: A Users Guide (p. 107). N.p.: Richmond Hill, Ont. : Firefly Books. Baby girl celebrating her first birthday and clown (n.d.) Dreamstime.com. [image]. Retrieved March 30 from

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-baby-girl-celebrating-first-birthday-parents-clown-image29728613Children with hula hoops (n.d.) Dreamstime.com [image] Retrieved March 30 from http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-children-hula-hoops-image25154162

Davis, J. (2012, August 22). Why Can't You Remember Being a Baby. Mental Floss. Retrieved March 21, 2014, from http://psychology.about.com/od/memory/ss/ten-facts-about-memory_2.htm

Hand holding tiny brain (n.d.) Dreamstime.com. [image]. Retrieved March 30 from http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-hand-holding-tiny-brain-cartoon-illustration-small-image30676235

Healthy visitor talking to mother with young baby (n.d.) Dreamstime.com. [image]. Retrieved March 30 from http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-health-visitor-talking-to-mother-young-baby-female-image36607507

Keyboard with key learn (n.d.) Dreamstime.com. [image]. Retrieved March 31 from http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-keyboard-key-learn-image19607454

Memory Lane (n.d.) Dreamtimes.com. [image]. Retrieved March 30 from http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-memory-lane-raod-sign-sepia-tones-image37355221

Memory loss (n.d.) Dreamstime.com. [image]. Retrieved March 31 from http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-memory-loss-image23315802

Light bulb hanging over businessman’s head (n.d.) Dreamstime.com. [image]. Retrieved March 31 from http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-light-bulb-hanging-over-businessman-s-head-image18249612

Shouse, B. (2011, February 7). Why Don't Remember Being Babies. In Live Science. Retrieved March 31, 2014, from http://psychology.about.com/od/memory/ss/ten-facts-about-memory_2.htm