Babies make memories but cannot remember them
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The reading
Most people cannot recall memories of being a baby, nor of their infancy. However, some people claim they can remember things that happened in the first year of their lives. Researchers at Yale and Columbia University in the United States studied why people have no recollection of things that happened in the first four or five years of their lives. The research team also investigated whether or not babies formed memories at all. Researcher Dr Tristan Yates suggested we may not be able to remember being a baby. He said: "Our results suggest that babies' brains have the capacity for forming memories, but how long-lasting these memories are is still an open question."
The research has been published in the journal "Science". It suggests that babies as young as a year old can form and store memories. Researchers used a specially designed scanner to observe activity in an area of babies' brains called the hippocampus. This is where memories are created and stored. The research found that babies can form limited types of memories from the age of two months. It is possible that infants can detect patterns in people's faces, language and in daily routines. However, episodic memory, which allows us to recall specific events, may take longer to form. The researchers say this kind of memory may not occur until the hippocampus has more fully matured.
Sources:
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/29/why-cant-we-remember-our-early-years-do-babies-make-memories-at-all
- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00855-0
- https://www.science.org/content/article/pioneering-study-scans-babies-brains-they-form-memories
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