Summary

Nearly-4-year-old girl suffered the accident and broke a front tooth but she probably won’t remember anything about this when she’s an adult. Kids can remember events before the age of 3, but when they’re a bit older, early memories are lost – this is childhood amnesia phenomenon. Starting point for childhood amnesia is at 7years. The possible cause of childhood amnesia may be the precipitous growth of new cells in the hippocampus during infancy.

Scientists make a research where they had interviewed groups of 3-year olds about events that had happened over the prior three months and then asked children about these events 3 years later. The kids between 5 and 7 years remembered over 60% of events, 8 and 9 remembered 40% or fewer of the events, and they had begun to talk about their memories in a different way. It has to do with basic biological processes, as neural structures undergo a lot of postnatal development. Early in development those structures are working, but not very efficiently - children are forming memories, but through natural processes those are fading and becoming inaccessible.

Parents also have an effect on kids’ memories of events. They can asking lots of questions like "Tell me more" and "What happened?" and allowing the kids to guide the description to make children’s memories more robust.

There will be further studies which consist on interviewing children about memories at different points in their development. Scientists say that the earliest memories tend to be ones filled with emotion, either positive or negative.

The text deals with childhood amnesia phenomenon.

An example of memory loss with a story about an accident with 4-year-old girl is mentioned. Further the article shortly describes the cause of memory-loss problem. It is the childhood amnesia phenomenon which is that kids can remember events before the age of 3, but when they’re a bit older, early memories are lost. The author gives the explanation of phenomenon in precipitous growth of new cells in the hippocampus during infancy.

Furthermore memory-loss researches are spoken. Author points out research results which show that kids between 5 and 7 years remember over 60% of events, 8 and 9 remember 40% or fewer of the events. The childhood amnesia explanation is discussed. Parent’s role in kid’s memory and further researches are noted.

Finally, the hypothesis about the childhood amnesia causes is stated. The author emphasizes that the earliest memories tend to be ones filled with emotion, either positive or negative.

How We Remember To Remember

[1]

"Remind me not to forget…" I often say to my roommate. My phone charger. The sandwich I made to take to work. The bill I need to put in the mail.

[2]

The way our brain handles remembering to remember something, called prospective memory, has been somewhat of a mystery to scientists. New research probes how our brain processes the intention to act at a certain point in time - like remembering to grab something before walking out the door or to take a pill at a certain time - finding that it involves two distinct brain processes.

[3]

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis instructed study subjects to lie in an fMRI scanner and organize words that popped up on a screen into different categories by pushing two buttons. Meanwhile, they had to remember to push a third button if a special target (either a specific word or syllable) appeared.

[4]

The participants showed different patterns of brain activation depending on what they were trying to remember. If the target they were trying to identify was like the other words they were seeing, remembering involved a different process than when the target was something unrelated to their main task. When the target in question was only a syllable something that had nothing to do with categorizing words ("tor"), the participants had to constantly remind themselves to push the target button. That method is called a top-down brain process. By contrast, when the target was a full word like "table"--similar to the words participants were already seeing as part of the categorization task--the participants weren't forced to pay attention so rigorously. Instead, the participants used a different set of brain regions to spontaneously remember to press the button when the word popped up. Because the participants were already paying attention to different words on the screen, "table" triggered a reminder, sort of like putting something important near the door so you can't help but see it as you leave.

[5]

This suggests that two different neural routes control how we remember to remember something. The researchers write that this could be a practical adaptation to keep the brain from being constantly overwhelmed, since the top-down, attentive approach to prospective memory requires a lot of brain power. In short: Science says if you really don't want to forget something as you leave the house, just put it by the door.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-08/how-we-remember-remember