What is the earliest memory that you can remember?

[Kalis]

No they arent, I remember A LOT of things from before I was 2.. and it's not just "well this happened and that happened" like telling a story, but in perfect detail. Also I dont think you can remember feelings if they werent real and my parents have never told me about my early birthdays. We dont actually talk about the past other than failures in my family.

It's impossible for you to do so, as your brain hadn't developed enough by then.

Remarkable or implausible? Hmm...

[Digglett]

I was little, still in a crib. I liked sleeping in the pitch dark and I was in my mom and dad's room (my crib was) and I remember not sleeping and just staring at the wall where they had this this cloth teddy bear hung right above my crib. I have no idea how old I even was. I also have very brief and foggy memories of my mom rocking me to sleep in this wooden rocking chair we used to have. Not sure which event happened first.

[Sigroth]

Was about 8-12 months probably, had grown a few teeth and my mom was breastfeeding me and i would sometime bite her nipples and she would shout "Ouch, stop it!".

Funny memory.

[Bumbasta]

I remember i cried when i was born

[NewOrleansTrolley]

This is a funny topic. Most of the posts I imagine will be stuff that's only meaningful to the posters.

Still...

I was born in Poland. My first memory was on the farm. I remember running towards my grandfather who was riding towards us on an old wagon. Only memory I have of the guy.

[Dezerte]

Very few adults have memories from before 2.5 years old. Those who do report memories from before this age usually cannot tell the difference between personal memory of the event and simple knowledge of it, which may have come from other sources.^[36] Events from after the age of 10 years are relatively easy to remember correctly, whereas memories from the age of 2 are more often confounded with false images and memories.^[37] Memories from early childhood (around age two) are susceptible to false suggestion, making them less trustworthy. These should be treated with caution, especially if they have severe consequences.^[37] Imagining details of a false event can encourage the generation of false memories.^[37] Studies have shown that people who merely imagine a childhood event are more likely to believe that it happened to them compared to events they did not imagine.^[38] This term has been coined imagination inflation and shows that merely imagining an event can make it seem more plausible that it really happened. Using the same paradigm, people that are shown a doctored photograph of themselves as a child in an event that never occurred can create false memories of the event by imagining the event over time.^[39] Therefore, this implies that it would be possible for false memories to be generated in and/or fed by a court case. This concern has led the APA to advise caution in accepting memories of physically and sexually abusive events from before the age of 2. However they also recommend that these memories not be entirely discounted, due to the heinous nature of the crimes.^[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childho...False_memories

[VanillaO]

Getting touched in my no-no.

[Deleted]

Kindergarten, when I was 6 or so. I dumped a bottle of glue in another kid's hair, because they pissed me off to some unreal degree, for what I can't remember. I DO remember the trip to the principal's office, and the fear associated with that.

[Kalis]

Getting touched in my no-no.

Sorry about that.

[Deleted]

Kindergarten, when I was 6 or so. I dumped a bottle of glue in another kid's hair, because they pissed me off to some unreal degree, for what I can't remember. I DO remember the trip to the principal's office, and the fear associated with that.

May I ask, Lesson learned or not learned?

[Ciddy]

I remember the day my younger sister was born and brought home. I'm 28 now and was 3 at the time. My grandma was babysitting me and my older brother (age 10 at the time) while Mom and Dad were at the hospital. I remember the three of us just kind of hanging out in the living room watching TV, then my grandma ushered us over to the door so we could be ready to meet our new sister when they got to the driveway.

I also still have a lot of old VHS tapes / pictures and can actually remember when they were taken. My mom was very big on taking pictures, and she used to have this MASSIVE camcorder that you could hurt yourself trying to lug around.

[Deleted]

It's impossible for you to do so, as your brain hadn't developed enough by then.

Remarkable or implausible? Hmm...

That's just strange. These were just my earliest memories but I have so many from when I was between 1 and 2. They arent just remarkable or memorable things that someone might have told me either. Like first words or learning to walk but just mixed things about my grandmother coming home from work, the smells from kitchen, horrible boring gray days that lasted forever. It's funny to think about it, everything seemed to go so slowly back then. Mom driving me in wheel chair and stopping to talk with some overweight woman who was probably her friend. Theres one weird thing about it though. In the very early memories, no one has faces except for my grandmother. I remember their clothes, smell, touch but cant recall any of their faces.

I dont think remembering these things is anything remarkable though. I cant even imagine how it's possible to forget these things. If people did, why dont they also forget how to talk or even walk?

[Kalis]

That's just strange. These were just my earliest memories but I have so many from when I was between 1 and 2. They arent just remarkable or memorable things that someone might have told me either. Like first words or learning to walk but just mixed things about my grandmother coming home from work, the smells from kitchen, horrible boring gray days that lasted forever. It's funny to think about it, everything seemed to go so slowly back then. Mom driving me in wheel chair and stopping to talk with some overweight woman who was probably her friend. Theres one weird thing about it though. In the very early memories, no one has faces except for my grandmother. I remember their clothes, smell, touch but cant recall any of their faces.

I dont think remembering these things is anything remarkable though. I cant even imagine how it's possible to forget these things. If people did, why dont they also forget how to talk or even walk?

You don't remember things from that age, for reasons that I have already mentioned, but will repeat for your convenience - THE HUMAN BRAIN IS NOT DEVELOPED ENOUGH TO PERMANENTLY REMEMBER THEM AT THAT AGE.

You are not some special magic snowflake. You are simply mistaken.

You may be mistaken about the age they happened at, or you may be unintentionally using the memories of others and placing yourself in that situation, or you may just be lying - but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.


Look at post 47 of this thread for more information on how it happens.

[Deleted]

You don't remember things from that age, for reasons that I have already mentioned, but will repeat for your convenience - THE HUMAN BRAIN IS NOT DEVELOPED ENOUGH TO PERMANENTLY REMEMBER THEM AT THAT AGE.

You are not some special magic snowflake. You are simply mistaken.

You may be mistaken about the age they happened at, or you may be unintentionally using the memories of others and placing yourself in that situation, or you may just be lying - but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.


Look at post 47 of this thread for more information on how it happens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_memory

The types of childhood memories that an adult recalls may be linked to personality. Research into memory in both children and adults reminiscing about childhood memories is not well-established, but considerable attention has been devoted to assessing the validity of strategies that can be used to recall early memories, particularly in situations where the accuracy of recall is critical, such as reports of child abuse. Some people claim to have vivid memories from very early ages, while others remember life events beginning around age five. Variables that affect age of first childhood memory include early family environments.

Read the article. It's common, and a lot of people do have early childhood memories. Just because false memories exist doesnt mean all of them are false memories.
Also dont go and claim something that hasn't even been researched well as a fact..

Oh and by the way, did I mention I have photographic memory? I remember everything I want in perfect detail and used it a lot to "cheat" in tests and exams in high school. Unfortunately that doesnt really do the trick any more in college as most tests are about using what you have learned and not just about memorizing stuff.

[Dawnseven]

You don't remember things from that age, for reasons that I have already mentioned, but will repeat for your convenience - THE HUMAN BRAIN IS NOT DEVELOPED ENOUGH TO PERMANENTLY REMEMBER THEM AT THAT AGE.

You are not some special magic snowflake. You are simply mistaken.

The very article you linked says "very few adults", not that it's impossible. Mary Lou Henner (an actress if you don't know her) remembers every single day of her life (down to what she wore and what she ate) from the age of about 12. Her earliest memory is of being baptized as an infant. Rare? Yes. Extremely rare? Yes. Impossible? No.

[Teebone]

Age unknown. I was in a car seat, sitting on a picnic table beneath a tree. I saw what I'm sure was my first bird chirping, and a chipmunk or squirrel had jumped up on the table near me and then it ran off. I remember everything was big, green and sunny. Summer for certain.