If you look back, what is the first memory from your childhood that comes to mind? That first memory is likely to be around the age of 3 because remembering what happened before is complicated by a phenomenon known as childhood amnesia. If you remember something from before that age, the chances are that it is a fictitious memory.
40% of early childhood memories are fictional
Researchers at the University of London surveyed more than 6,600 people to find out about their earliest childhood memories. They asked them to detail their earliest memory and indicate how old they were at the time. They were particularly keen to only share memories they were sure of, so they should not rely on a childhood photograph, a shared family history or any other source other than direct experience.
Interestingly, 38.6% of people said they had memories from when they were two years old or younger, and 13.4% from when they were less than one year old. However, science has revealed that the hippocampus, an area of the brain related to memory, has not fully developed by that age, which is why we do not have long-term memories.
So the researchers were suspicious and analyzed the content, language, nature and descriptive details of the participants’ earliest childhood memories to try to understand how they could claim to have memories from an age at which they could not be formed, according to science.
They discovered that at least 40% of people had a fictitious memory, meaning that their first childhood memory did not correspond to a direct experience.
The memory trap: Why do we remember as our own something that we did not experience?
In fact, many fictional memories from before the age of two come from fragments of early experiences (such as a baby stroller or family relationships) and some facts or knowledge about one’s own childhood derived from photographs or family conversations.
As a result, when we evoke that first memory of childhood, what we actually activate is a mental representation composed of different fragments of early experiences and some facts or knowledge that others have told us, but they are not real memories of the experiences lived.
The trick is that over time we can come to experience these mental representations in a reminiscent way, so we are sure that they are our direct memories. In fact, this phenomenon is more common in older or middle-aged adults, which indicates that these fictional memories have been consolidated as our own.
We may also unconsciously add other details, such as that we wore a diaper when we stood up in the crib. In practice, that first memory of childhood is formed from some sensation, integrating information that our parents or other people have told us. Over time, we imagine what it would have been like and end up giving coherence to those images, assuming that they are our own memories when in reality they are recreations or what are known as implanted memories.
References:
Donato, F. et. Al. (2021) The Ontogeny of Hippocampus-Dependent Memories. J Neurosci; 41(5):920–926.
Akhtar, S. et. Al. (2018) Fictional First Memories. Psychological Science; 29(10): 10.1177.
