Do you remember anything before the age of around 5?

Question

I remember laying in the crib & seeing a woman (no one knew her)..and a cupee doll(or something like one). I don't think I remember anything else till I went to kindergarten . Do you remember anything? Is there any scientific reason that we don't remember those years? I always heard they were the "formative years"..but how could they be if we don't remember them?

Answer 1

I remember being in the crib and being all sweaty ( like a fever ) because the parents tend to put too many blankets on you. I also remember being wheeled in the carriage and the devider between my leggs hurt so I would always try to slip my leggs out while they were strolling me.



I also remember actually being born and the sheer terror...

my eyes all blurry. ( I actually posted this before here and nobody believed me )

Answer 2

Ego development, that is the sense of being an individual, only starts at around 2 to 3 years old and this process can take a couple of years to mature. Before that there is little distinction between another/other and ourselves so memory is not created from a personal perspective and therefore has to be accessed using other (psychotherapy) methodologies.



During ego development we move constantly between pre-egoic and egoic, life is chaotic and very often quiet traumatic, many memories are suppressed, and many are just forgotten.



Most people could not remember what they did last year, its therefore not surprising that we can't remember say before 5. Using specific techniques, most of these memories could be accessed.



However, pre-egoic memories could be ours, things we saw, or even telepathic, since individuality has not yet been formed, the infant would not know the difference.

Answer 3

I remember only bits and pieces of my past. Obviously, the farther away it was the less I generally remember. Of course, traumatic events can stick around longer. Also, sometimes I misremember something. For example, recently I was *positive* of something that happened about 10 years ago. My friend had a different version of the events. Her memory of the event was better than mine apparently, because I lost a $10 bet because I misremembered it.



I think if you recall a memory this recollection can act as a relay to the orginal event years down the road. In other words, if I think about something that happened five years ago I will be more likely to remember it 10 years from now that I would have been able to had I not thought about it right now.



Familiarity keeps things fresh too. If you don't use it you lose it.

Answer 4

I remember the first word i read. At six.

I remember a loud party thing. At four.

Thats about it though, I dont remember much (and what i do is all blurry and incoherent) before that.



Your brain overwrites previous information but retains any super important things in the subconcius. The subconcius memories are like the ruins of all your old memories and your new memories are built on top. It cannot be accessed normally but it might be possible with hypnosis.



Usually nothing before 3yrs of age can be remmembered, and there are fewer then 1000 people on earth that can remember further back then that.











Mike, for the first six or so months the brain does not retain ANY memory as it is still forming and changing. It is physically impossible. You are lying. You most certainly do not remember being born. The infants head (occiput) plays a significant role in opening the birth canal. The normal pressures of birth cause the cranial bones to fold over one another. The membranes (meninges) and fluid (CSF) surrounding the brain act as a bouyant shock absorber. The nervous system, always attempting to maintain stability under duress, organizes around these forces. These protective mechanisms allow for maximum brain capacity and minimize brain trauma. The trauma itself is enough to severely damage nervous tissue. The mind reacts purely on instinct with hardwired commands like BREATHE and PEE and FEED. No thought or memory is involved during this time.

Answer 5

I have memories from as young as two years old. My primary stream of memory begins at age three when my family moved across the country...a very easy marker for me to go by.



I actually wrote down all my earliest memeories many years ago...and then I was able to confirm the timeframe talking to my parents. My earliest memory was in the nursery at my parents' church when I was right about two years old.



By the way, I don't believe Mikey remembers his birth either. My guess is that he's remembering a dream. Some of my earliest memories are dreams.



Memory is a weird thing (so maybe never say never to Mikey's claim)...because it has been demonstrated that infants who cannot speak yet do have memories of past events. But, yeah, somewhere along the line we lose those memories. There appears to be a relationship with the development of language skills.



I have a toddler myself and I have tested his memory. After a trip to Chicago shortly after his third birthday, I could show him pictures of the people we visited there and he could name them and recall things we did. Nine months later, I show him the pictures and ask him if he remembers them and some he says no, others he says yes. He can't remember any of their names anymore. He does remember flying on the airplane.



Likewise, virtually all of my early memories were "memorable" experiences; few of them are mundane...mom digging a slug out of the garden, my brother's new bicycle, a giant gravestone, a hotel swimming pool, tasting dog poop...and, yeah, it tasted like poop.

Answer 6

I remember a lot of things before I turned 5. The earliest memory I can recall was my first birthday. When I had told this to my older brother, he thought I was making it up so we went to our mom and I told her the things I remembered and she confirmed them. My brother calls me "elephant", you know because of the saying that elephants don't forget things or "the family historian". Sometimes, I tell him things even he can't remember.



Sometimes, I astonish my own self with the things I remember and how old I was when they happened. What helps me put a time marker on when the events happened would be something like the house we lived in at the time or the neighbour that lived across the street and upon investigation, I come to find that we lived in that particular house or across from that neighbour in the year when I was 3 or 4, or whatever the case may be.



As fantastic as it sounds, I do believe it's possible for a person to remember his birth. Why not, after all, you were there! If I can remember my first birthday, I'm willing to believe someone else can remember even earlier.

Answer 7

I think very few things (maybe 4 or 5) are remembered before the age of about 8. I think they are formative years because they set a thought pattern in our brain that starts to handle the same situation the same way...thereby habits begin..and I think that our minds "remember" things that our conscious memory may not.

Answer 8

I remember the time when I was about two years old. My sister was born 18 months after I was born and I clearly remember my baby sister and that time. To answer your question: Yes I very well remember the time before the age of 5. I clearly remember my first day at kindergarten. According to my parents I was three years old when they put me in kindergarten.

Answer 9

I can remember things that were traumatic before the age of five. Getting stung by a bee. Not getting to the potty fast enough. Things like that. They would be considered pretty traumatic for a little kid. Yet I don't remember falling off of my mothers bed and breaking my collarbone. Go figure.



I guess you could call it selective memory.

Answer 10

Family is amazed at things I remember, and agree that my memory of things is correct, which starts about age 1. I once read a claim that people with very early memories are more creative; who knows?

Answer 11

I remember alot from years three and four -1969 moon landing I was actually 2 years and 11 months, The Amazing Mets also 1969, and mother being pregnant with my sister 1970.



I don't remember anything earlier than 2 and 1/2 it seems.

Answer 12

I remember the kitchen floor in my grandma's house because it was black and white checkerboard and I remember spilling milk on it once and her cleaning it up.



But my Mom said that we left that house when I was 2 going on three and the house burned down before I ever got a chance to go there again.



That is my earliest memory but I'll be damned if I know why I remember it. ;)



Maybe it has something to do with the color scheme.

Answer 13

Chances are your memory is a false memory. It is very rare to remember anything before 2, and since you only have a single early member, I would say someone at some point told you about that scenario and you have now come to believe you experienced it. False memories can be incredibly realistic, and easily confused for a real memory. I personally have hundreds of memories before the age of 5, some going back as far as age 1. I can't be certain these aren't false memories, but chances are since I have so many they may be real.

Answer 14

I remember nothing before about age 13 or so. I think it is subconscious choice--perhaps. I know I had a wicked childhood in different homes.

I do believe the guy who said he remembers being born. My son has high functioning asperger's syndrome---he says he remembers the sheer terror of being born also. He talks ab out the "rubbery" feeling and the very bright unbearable light.

Answer 15

I don't remember much from before I turned 9. I do remember my great grandmother and things having to do with her. She died when I was 8. That was also the year my first sister was born.



I noticed that I often tend to remember things based on when my siblings were born. So pre-8 years old [sister born], in between 8 and 13 years old [brother born], and in between 13-18 years old [baby sister born].



Of course I remember more and more as I got older, but I tend to reference them in these time frames. I have two new ones now. Pre-Richard [my fiance] and Post-Richard. So between 18-19 [freshman year of college] and after 19 years old [to the present at 24 years old].



I believe that some of the reasons we don't remember things are:

-Because there's no frame of reference when we're younger. We don't really know what we're experiencing and find it harder to remember such things

-And because our brains aren't as developed. While we do learn things at incredible speeds our short term memories aren't as developed making it harder to put them into long term memory

-Also I believe there's the possibility that each individual brain can only remember so much.

Answer 16

Yep.

I remember a few things before I even started kindergarten.



Don't really recall first grade for some reason, but all the other grades in school I do. Even kindergarten.

Answer 17

Yes, I remember the birth of my sister and that's my first memory. It is funny but my cousin's first memory is the same.

Answer 18

I actually have more than a few memories before 5.

Answer 19

I remember being stung by a wasp in my pram...my mother told me I was 3 at the time.

Answer 20

I'm 50 and I have distinct and numerous memories going back to age two, I could write a book. People seem to vary greatly in this regard, I've met younger folks who can't remember their childhood at all. Dunno why, I don't think memory is all that well understood yet last time I checked.

Answer 21

I remember everything from when I was 2 on up. I guess I just thought everyone else could too. It's amazing to me that other people can't.

Answer 22

I remember things that I've seen in videos. But thats bout it.

Answer 23

Mikey....I still believe you....