NationStates Jolt Archive

Is it normal to say remember nothing from before age 5? Or precious little anyway. And then a few blanks here and there?

I honestly don't know, which is why I'm asking.

yes that's very normal, but I voted before I read anything else but the topic title and the options :D I didn't think about the first few years because I thought that was presumed already, and several years worth of gaps in the rest of your memory is pretty fucked up

yes that's very normal, but I voted before I read anything else but the topic title and the options :D I didn't think about the first few years because I thought that was presumed already, and several years worth of gaps in the rest of your memory is pretty fucked up
me too.

Is it normal to say remember nothing from before age 5? Or precious little anyway. And then a few blanks here and there?

It may have something to do with whether any specific "events" happened during that time.

I myself had to go through a major Surgery at the age of 5 and remember quite a bit about the years just before and just after.

If there were no significant events, then I can see how it may be hard to remember things that early in life.

Regards,
Gaar

I asked around a few ppl this question and it does seem normal that most ppl have little or no memories of the first 3-5 years of their life. I once flatted with a guy who was only 19 and his first memory was when he was 7!
My first memory is when I was about 8 months old. I can remember quite a bit of my childhood if I sit down and focus and get it in order of when the major events happened (mostly when we moved, which was a lot - 8 times before I was 12).
Unfortunately nothing really interesting happened to me, so I don't think anyone would be interested in reading my memoirs.

I believe that they were the happiest days of my life and yet i cannot remember them. :(
I see a photo of me aged 5 and down with a smile on my face and then i see a photo of me now and Huzzah no smile.

I want a memory! :(

I can't really remember anything before age 7 or so.

I asked around a few ppl this question and it does seem normal that most ppl have little or no memories of the first 3-5 years of their life. I once flatted with a guy who was only 19 and his first memory was when he was 7!
My first memory is when I was about 8 months old. I can remember quite a bit of my childhood if I sit down and focus and get it in order of when the major events happened (mostly when we moved, which was a lot - 8 times before I was 12).
Unfortunately nothing really interesting happened to me, so I don't think anyone would be interested in reading my memoirs.

We moved a lot too, that may have something to do with it. Having to learn new environments and the sequence in which they happened...

I have heaps of memories. I remember family holidays to Mauritius and India, aged 3. I remember being with my grandfather, who was such an awesome man. He used to discuss things like religion with me when I was like 4, and never really talk down. I remember moving to my new house, when I was 3.
I remember hurting my neck when I was 2. (I was jumping on my parents bed... :p )I could go on forever!

i am 13 and i can't remember up to about 4, and even then i dont like to talk about my life until about last year when i was 13

but my earliest memory is when i was 2 and my bro was in his cot crying and my mum was rushing round. trying to get him to sleep

Edit: 'gen , i would have to say that missing a few years of memory is pretty bad and talking to someone you were with then may help you, such as parents, friends or partners.

what years are you missing?

i actually had a conversation about this very thing today and realized that before about age 6 i remember very little about my life. two of my friends said they remember most from age 3. i really don't know what is normal though.

Let's re-structure the question and make you feel a whole let better about yourself. Look at my scenario.

Is it normal (or even fair) that a large portion of my memories, emotions, and interactions never even happened, and are were only in my head?

The worst part about schizophrenia isn't the dream world. It's missing out on the real world.

i am 13 and i can't remember up to about 4, and even then i dont like to talk about my life until about last year when i was 13

but my earliest memory is when i was 2 and my bro was in his cot crying and my mum was rushing round. trying to get him to sleep

I am 43 and can remember things as early as 3...

I think it's normal not to remember much of your early childhood. My first memories are from when I was four.

i (honestly) dont remember much of anything. i truthfully cant tell you any details of what i did last week. the only things i recall from my childhood are the things i've been told about.

well, my aim was to tell you it was normal, but i have the feeling this isnt too convincing. either way, dont worry, its very common.

Your brain is developing extremely quickly at that stage (between 0 - 7). You're having to learn so much other stuff (co-ordination, muscle control, language, writing, reading, spatial awareness, concept of past/present/future etc etc) that it's perfectly understandable that your brain can't retain memories that well. All those neurons haven't yet made proper connections, so some memories are bound to slip away.

We moved a lot too, that may have something to do with it. Having to learn new environments and the sequence in which they happened...
That's a very interesting point. You're probably right there. If you lived in the same place for a long period of time, it would be difficult to order memories, and so probably easier to forget them as well. We both have the cues of where we were living at the time to help keep the memories. My family first moved when I was 8 months old (hence my first memory, which was of the move).
I've never spent more than 5 years living in the same place - and not just moving house, but moving cities, and countries. And of course every time we move we have to learn new things (even if it's just where the local shops are) and that may stimulate our memory in storing and retaining old memories.

<snip>
That's a very interesting point. You're probably right there. If you lived in the same place for a long period of time, it would be difficult to order memories, and so probably easier to forget them as well. We both have the cues of where we were living at the time to help keep the memories. My family first moved when I was 8 months old (hence my first memory, which was of the move).
I've never spent more than 5 years living in the same place - and not just moving house, but moving cities, and countries. And of course every time we move we have to learn new things (even if it's just where the local shops are) and that may stimulate our memory in storing and retaining old memories.
It's an interesting theory, but I can remember back pre-2 years old and I grew up in just the one place.

I voted yes to the poll, because I understand that it is the norm.

Your brain is developing extremely quickly at that stage (between 0 - 7). You're having to learn so much other stuff (co-ordination, muscle control, language, writing, reading, spatial awareness, concept of past/present/future etc etc) that it's perfectly understandable that your brain can't retain memories that well. All those neurons haven't yet made proper connections, so some memories are bound to slip away.


That's a very interesting point. You're probably right there. If you lived in the same place for a long period of time, it would be difficult to order memories, and so probably easier to forget them as well. We both have the cues of where we were living at the time to help keep the memories. My family first moved when I was 8 months old (hence my first memory, which was of the move).
I've never spent more than 5 years living in the same place - and not just moving house, but moving cities, and countries. And of course every time we move we have to learn new things (even if it's just where the local shops are) and that may stimulate our memory in storing and retaining old memories.

That is interesting. My earliest memories are of our holdiday in Hong Kong & England, when I was four.

I'm just trying to remember last night

I'm just trying to remember last night

I have that problem too sometimes. :D

I think Bottle's a good source for this topic.
I personally remember the first time i moved from one home to another, at a half-year old. I remember looking back at our house in Half Moon Bay, and noting that the sky was mostly clear except a cloud obscured it so i saw blue sky but was in shadow (one picture in mind) and for some reason that stupid sapling in the tree still hadn't yet budded. I was getting carted off into the green wagon with the wood-panel sidebars so that my parents could leave and go argue with someone about who switched who at birth.
And i remember playing with a bear cub at 3 years old at Mt. McKinley park while everyone else FREAKED and i kept saying it was no big deal, it was just a big teddy bear.
I also remember at 4 when i used to jump off the couch and emulate Underdog, and then sit and watch Star Trek at dinner. Also i had some unsure fear of my dad's laboratory in the basement and no one really ever adequately explained the plethora of smells that tended to waft up from there. They ended up latching the door to it.
I also remember sneaking the food i disliked into my plastic alligator so i could regurgitate it later when i had my disciplinary bath that almost inevitably followed what must have been a difficult dinner for everyone else. I became well acquainted with the undersides of tables and a giant yellow blanket i'd try to hide in ... it later became my cape.
...AND i remember playing next to the highway and finding shards of glass that kept making me think they were jewels, so i'd always stuff a bunch of the smaller parts into my pants and make crunching noises running in my semi-stunted fashion back up the drive before someone was dispatched to get me.
All of those memories are from before the divorce at 5 years old.
I've got a few more but they're probably slightly too personal, and as much fun as i like to have exaggerating or outright lying for my personal amusement, i'm not in this case.
Now i got CRS. And the things i do think i remember seem to merely be supplementations and confabulations of the things i read about.

Originally posted by VoteEarly
Is it normal to say remember nothing from before age 5?

I would have to say no, it's not normal. I can remember things that happened to me since I was 3 years-old. We're not going to get into details about exactly what, but this is what my psychiatrist told me. People who have memories of when they were 3/4 years-old usually have some kind of trauma that was stored in their brain at this early age. It wasn't until I was about 12 that I realized all of these things actually happened to me, I started having flashbacks and dreams about it. As you get older, these memories make take up more of your memory, and you may lose them, find you can't think or do things as well as you used to, or your brain may change, causing you to think in completely different ways. Due to all of this, I am somewhat manic and I have disassociation and depersonaliztion disorder. I hope that helpd. :)

yes that's very normal, but I voted before I read anything else but the topic title and the options :D I didn't think about the first few years because I thought that was presumed already, and several years worth of gaps in the rest of your memory is pretty fucked up
WEll, not really. As memory accumulates and new neural pathways are formed for short-term memory, it's pretty normal for older memories, especially ones that didn't make a huge impression at the time, to fade. This is simply the brain's way of placing a sort of "priority" on all the memories accumulated over a lifetime. The "faded" memories aren't truly lost, since they can be easily recalled via such things as hypnosis, but are less prominent than recent memories or memories of intense experiences.

Many memories before age four come from imagination. Either, you were told about something at one time and cotructed an image of it in your mind. Or your mind invented something entirely new to fill in the gaps. Ex: I have a distinct memory of eating a chocolate cake on my first birthday. I later realized this was from a photo of me eating this cake. In my memory, no one was in the room. Obviously, thats not true, someone had to take the picture. Logical conclusion: my mind constructe this image from the photo, hence the absence of people; I was the only subject of the photo. Its been clinically that almost all people can't remember anything before age four. For some reason, it really pisses people off when I argue this position. I guess they don't like the idea of their mind playing tricks on them.

I have two memories before the age of seven and one of them is of dubious authenticity. Interesting side note: I can't remember what year it is either (2006 or 2005) I seem to default to 1998 when I need to write the date.

Depends on how old you are and how much you drink.

Depends on how old you are and how much you drink.
Keruvalia! Are you equating age with drinking to excess??? TSK! ;)

Good morning, by the way. :)

Due to my nature of only remembering stuff temporarily for when I need it then stashing it away somewhere, I don't even remember what I had for lunch last week

i can remember my 3rd birthday and some time before that.

Due to my nature of only remembering stuff temporarily for when I need it then stashing it away somewhere, I don't even remember what I had for lunch last week
You only had lunch once last week??? :confused:

Many memories before age for come from imagination. Either, you were told about something at one time and cotructed an image of it in your mind. Or your mind invented something entirely new to fill in the gaps. Ex: I have a distinct memory of eating a chocolate cake on my first birthday. I later realized this was from a photo of me eating this cake. In my memory, no one was in the room. Obviously, thats not true, someone had to take the picture. Logical conclusion: my mind constructe this image from the photo, hence the absence of people; I was the only subject of the photo. Its been clinically that almost all people can't remember anything befre age four. For some reason, it really pisses people off when I argue this position. I guess they don't like the idea of their mind palying tricks on them.


Exactly. there's the truth right there.

Is it normal to say remember nothing from before age 5? Or precious little anyway. And then a few blanks here and there?

5, huh? That's a bit old. If you have scattered memories through out and just don't remember... ok, this happened and then this happened and then this happened... I think that's pretty normal.

If you don't remember anything before age 5 that's a bit of a cause for concern.

Keruvalia! Are you equating age with drinking to excess??? TSK! ;)

Good morning, by the way. :)

As you get older, you have more of an excuse to drink .... as you get even older than that, you need no excuses anymore. :D

Mornin' Cap'n.

Many memories before age for come from imagination. Either, you were told about something at one time and cotructed an image of it in your mind. Or your mind invented something entirely new to fill in the gaps. Ex: I have a distinct memory of eating a chocolate cake on my first birthday. I later realized this was from a photo of me eating this cake. In my memory, no one was in the room. Obviously, thats not true, someone had to take the picture. Logical conclusion: my mind constructe this image from the photo, hence the absence of people; I was the only subject of the photo. Its been clinically that almost all people can't remember anything befre age four. For some reason, it really pisses people off when I argue this position. I guess they don't like the idea of their mind palying tricks on them.

Good point. I have a few "memories" similar to your chocolate one... but I also remember my godmother painting my findernails in the backyard while I was in a kiddie pool and remember her using a fan to dry them... I also remember my cousin teaching me how to count to 4 in Spanish (she went to a bilingual school) so I could say my age in Spanish.

Other than that the majority are of the chocolate "memory" variety. I think the "Are there other people in them and do you remember it from your perspective" clues are very good.

I can remember some key and non-key events before I was five, but the holes are there, obviously.

As you get older, you have more of an excuse to drink .... as you get even older than that, you need no excuses anymore. :D

Mornin' Cap'n.
LOL! Well, as far as I can remember ( :D ), I've never needed any sort of excuse to drink. I might have one six-pack of beer per month, but that's just to "keep my hand in." :D

BTW ... I was under the impression that Islam forbids alcohol use by its adherents! :confused:

My earliest memory was from my third birthday. That was the best day ever, in my opinion at the time. I had this huge obsession with mickey mouse, and I actually got to meet him! It had this big mickey mouse theme to it. It even had a seperate cake for the kids (ie, my sister and me) And that was the day my uncle gave me my stuffed chicken. I didn't quite get the coolness of it then, but now it just rocks.

How could I possibly not remember that day? Well, i don't remember that day, I remember that night, when it all happened.

And then memories between there and the age of five are few. They really start when I got to kindergarten. And then, I don't remember every detail, but I don't think I have any abnormal gaps...

I think normal is to remember little or nothing from age 3 or earlier, and increasing amounts from about 4 on. But it differs by individual.

Of course, memories are sometimes set aside, if you will. Not to say suppressed - I'm rather skeptical of "recovered" memories. But certainly there are times, when you haven't thought about something for a while, when memories come back that you had forgotten about. This sometimes happens to me when I re-visit places, or encounter people, that I have not had cause to consider for many years.

I think it's normal to have a patchy memory. I'm quite odd apprently, in that I can remember some isolated events within the first 18 months, which is meant to be quite rare. I think most people's memories kick in properly around 5, but I might be wrong. Interesting thread - kudos.

Antoher point is that some things I have remembered about my childhood, did not actually happen. I can't remember any specific examples(lol), but I know that I have had some memories that I've talked with my parents about and they verified that they did not occur.

Of course, memories are sometimes set aside, if you will. Not to say suppressed - I'm rather skeptical of "recovered" memories. But certainly there are times, when you haven't thought about something for a while, when memories come back that you had forgotten about. This sometimes happens to me when I re-visit places, or encounter people, that I have not had cause to consider for many years.

That happens to me with dreams. I'll just randomly be going about whatever, and all of a sudden I'll remember a dream I had. Sometimes it's a dream I had like a week ago and I didn't quite remember it when I woke up (one of those things where you wake up and you're trying to remember it, but you just can't) or I'll just randomly remember a dream from a long time ago

Originally posted by Taedentia
That happens to me with dreams. I'll just randomly be going about whatever, and all of a sudden I'll remember a dream I had. Sometimes it's a dream I had like a week ago and I didn't quite remember it when I woke up (one of those things where you wake up and you're trying to remember it, but you just can't) or I'll just randomly remember a dream from a long time ago

That is why I believe in past lives. :)

You only had lunch once last week??? :confused:
Probably

Yes, it is perfectly normal to not be able to recall memories before the age of 3-4 (it's referred to as infant amnesia by developmental psychologists). Even though every now and then you'll run into an individual that has memories of infancy/toddlerhood, the vast majority of the population cannot.

There is currently no widely accepted explanation for this phenonmenon (although I admit this isn't my field). However, I have heard the argument that infant amnesia could be related to state dependent memory issues. Basically, if your cognitive state is vastly different at the time of recall then it is at the time of encoding, you will have difficulty recovering the memory (e.g., you get totally wasted and can't remember anything you did). Thus, the argument would be that because of large amount of cognitive development that we all undergo, the cognitive states during encoding and recall are so different as to inhibit memory recovery.

However, there are problems with that theory, of course, and all of the theories we have thus far. Oh well - the point is - it's very very normal.

That's a very interesting point. You're probably right there. If you lived in the same place for a long period of time, it would be difficult to order memories, and so probably easier to forget them as well. We both have the cues of where we were living at the time to help keep the memories. My family first moved when I was 8 months old (hence my first memory, which was of the move).
I've never spent more than 5 years living in the same place - and not just moving house, but moving cities, and countries. And of course every time we move we have to learn new things (even if it's just where the local shops are) and that may stimulate our memory in storing and retaining old memories.

I had never spent more than 2 years in a single place until I had turned 13.

Regards,
Gaar

Many memories before age four come from imagination. Either, you were told about something at one time and cotructed an image of it in your mind. Or your mind invented something entirely new to fill in the gaps. Ex: I have a distinct memory of eating a chocolate cake on my first birthday. I later realized this was from a photo of me eating this cake. In my memory, no one was in the room. Obviously, thats not true, someone had to take the picture. Logical conclusion: my mind constructe this image from the photo, hence the absence of people; I was the only subject of the photo. Its been clinically that almost all people can't remember anything before age four. For some reason, it really pisses people off when I argue this position. I guess they don't like the idea of their mind playing tricks on them.

I'm pretty sure that my memories of being wheeled around Childrens Orthopedic Hospital from the age of 3 are NOT my imagination, as well as walking around with "Leg braces" on for a couple of years. I can also remember being "prepped" for the Surgery some years later as well as when the "Body cast" was removed. My legs were very hairy for a 5 year old, and the Doctor asked if I wanted to keep the cast.

There were no pictures taken of ANY of these events, so far as I know. I have never seen any at least.

Regards,
Gaar

the closer to age 5 the more stuff you should be able to remember. but, as someone pointed out, it can be more a matter of sharing memory with family members over the years. so if you have been used to talking about fun stuff that happened when you were 2 or 3 its hard to know if its a memory from that time or a memory of talking about it (i have no memory of falling off the dock at the lake dozens of times before i was 2 even though its a family story told over and over again)

to not be able to sit down and pull from memory things that happened the summer you were 4 years old doesnt seem unusual to me, but if your brother reminded you of the fort the 2 of you built out of the refrigerator box that you played with all that summer and you dont rember it at all, that might be unusual. or if you dont rember the pony you got for your 5th birthday.

do you remember when you first went to school? do you remember any extra special birthday or christmas presents? accidents or illnesses that you had? the house you lived in?

if its an utter blank, there may be reason to talk to a psychologist or other councillor.