#Infantile amnesia quizlet how to#

From the ages of one to six, children progress from the one-word stage of speaking to becoming fluent in their native language(s), so there are major changes in their verbal ability that overlap with the childhood amnesia period. Another factor that we know plays a role is language. This suggests that the problem may be less with forming memories than with maintaining them.īut this does not seem to be the whole story. Children and teenagers have earlier memories than adults do. We know that the typical boundary for the offset of childhood amnesia – three and a half years – shifts with age.

The hippocampus, thought to be responsible for forming memories, continues developing until at least the age of seven. These basic processes involve several brain regions and include forming, maintaining and then later retrieving the memory. In fact, developmental changes in basic memory processes have been put forward as an explanation for childhood amnesia, and it’s one of the best theories we’ve got so far. Of course, memory capabilities at these ages are not adult-like – they continue to mature until adolescence. READ MORE: How parents can help kids deal with back-to-school anxiety It’s debatable whether long-term memories at this early age are truly autobiographical, though – that is, personally relevant events that occurred in a specific time and place. Preschoolers, on the other hand, can remember events that go years back.

#Infantile amnesia quizlet how to#

In one study, six-month-olds who learned how to press a lever to operate a toy train remembered how to perform this action for two to three weeks after they had last seen the toy. But babies as young as six months can form both short-term memories that last for minutes and long-term memories that last weeks, if not months.

At first glance, it may seem that the reason we don’t remember being babies is because infants and toddlers don’t have a fully developed memory.