As we grow old and look back at our past, we seem to have little memories about our young tender ages. It can be sickening to forget some of your beautiful moments, especially if you were unlucky enough not to have someone to capture (photograph or videotape) your moments.
The inability to remember a lot of your childhood events is a natural process. It is not a sign of trauma or any disorder, as some suggest. Loss of memory from the early years of life is normal, don’t stress too much if you can’t remember much. It happens to a lot of people.
So, why can’t you remember most of your childhood memories?
You have probably heard of the theory that tries to explain that our minds cope with traumatic events by forgetting them. But that is not necessarily true. Simply answered, it is because of childhood amnesia. This is a condition that occurs naturally over the years, and it is common
Keep on reading to get an overview of childhood amnesia, the reasons behind it, and the possible ways to recover some childhood memories.
An Overview Of Childhood Amnesia
Childhood amnesia is a real occurring aspect. Also known as infantile amnesia, childhood amnesia is the incapability of humans to retrieve memories of their early life stages. It is not a sign of any brain injury or external trauma.
It feels weird and disappointing to fail to remember a series of our early years on Earth, but there are ample reasons for that.
There are multiple ways to work on and recover several childhood memories. The best thing you have to practice to avoid childhood amnesia is documenting and saving any kinds of memory events and souvenirs.
Reasons Why You Cannot Remember My Childhood Events?
The reasons behind childhood amnesia make this specific piece quite interesting and hopefully the best piece section. Several discovered reasons bring the whole aspect of infantile amnesia and how it is not a harmful event in any way. As explained, childhood amnesia is a natural process full of significant biological theories behind it.
A good number of reasons constituting the aspect of infantile amnesia in general human bodies include:
Younger brain development
The younger nature of a baby’s brain makes it impossible to capture and recall the young life events. The human brain consciously grows until the age of seven to eight years of age. That is why there are so few childhood memories.
Cognitive memory
Cognitive memory describes the learning and entire development of the human brain. Remembering is an instance of general cognitive thinking which, a limited practice in babies’ younger brains.
As we grow, the human brain experiences more cognitive thinking, which in turn enhances much remembrance.
Emotions
Babies tend to experience fewer emotions. Emotions contribute to a huge part of our life memories. With limited emotions at a younger age, it becomes almost impossible for babies to recall any childhood memories. A larger percentage of the recalled memories are emotional.
Language acquisition
Language acquisition is the processing activity by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and understand a specific language. The art of perceiving and comprehending a particular language makes it easier for humans to recall memories.
Babies have zero or limited experience in their language that ultimately contributes to forgetting childhood memories. As they improve on their language, their memories also get clearer.
Neurological aspect
The neurological aspect describes the biological nature of the hippocampus part of the brain to lose memories. At a younger age, the hippocampus part of the brain has a great chance of losing early human memories.
Neurobiological substrates
The higher presence of gamma-aminobutyric acid in an early human body contributes to the severe loss of childhood memories in humans. Its presence ultimately limits the retrieval of childhood memories as a human being grows and develops.
Freud’s statement theory
Freud’s theory explains that the loss of childhood memories may result from suppressing early experienced psycho-sexual encounters. Freud solidifies that childhood amnesia may be a result of an individual desire to suppress earlier painful memories.
Medical amnesia
Childhood amnesia may also be a result of medical amnesia that severely affects childhood memories. Humans experiencing unfortunates like brain tumors may constitute the entire aspect of losing childhood memories.
Any victim experiencing medical amnesia is likely to lose childhood memories as one of the unfortunate diseases’ effects. Such victims need serious medical attention and support.
Stress
Stress is another thing largely contributing to the aspect of childhood amnesia. As humans develop and grow, they tend to experience several unfortunate events that push away their old childhood memories.
Consistent human stress means consistently pushing away old memories that adversely lead to the loss of severe childhood memories.
Drug substances
Drugs are another thing that limiting the rate of early childhood memory recovery. Substances like alcohol have the effect of limiting the retrieval of memories.
Frequent use of such substances ultimately leads to severe childhood memory losses in humans. An alcohol addict is unlikely to remember many of his or her childhood and even teenage years.
Neuron growth
Increased neuron presence in the human body has also been a cause of consistent memory loss. In their early years, a baby’s intense neuron growth constitutes a miss to childhood memory events.
Neuron growth usually disrupts the brain pipeline that stores some of our old memories, therefore, making them inaccessible.
The larger the number of neuron substances in the body, the higher the earlier childhood memories’ limitations.
Self-cognitive development
The development of the cognitive self is an important aspect of any loss of childhood memories.
The early state of any human cognitive self literally affects encoding and storing any set of early memories. It, in turn, leads to the loss of childhood memories since they are neither encoded nor stored in the human brain.
Ways Of Recovering Early Childhood Memories?
There is a definite way to recovering lost childhood memories. A number of the great ways include:
Asking friends and family
One of the best objectives of life is to create good times and memories with your loved ones. Seeking specific details from your family and friends is a good way of resurfacing old childhood memories.
Ask them what your life looked like as a child. Remember to inquire about clear details that would highly raise the chances of getting clearer episodes of your life events.
Looking at old pictures
Pictures portray a visual representation of a certain life event. A visual representation helps create a visual overview of a particular life event that aid in refreshing life memories.
Old pictures are vital assets that you should frequently exercise. Take more pictures as life evolves and safely document them. It is a highly effective practice.
Responding to certain prompts
Responding to certain prompts helps to trigger memories of past events. More chunks of triggered memories contribute to more remembrance and consistently improving on your childhood amnesia.
Another technique of responding to specific prompts is the idea of consistently revisiting old places and saved memories. Old places are likely to trigger more past occurrences that ultimately reduce the aspect of childhood amnesia.
Meditation
This might sound controversial, but it does work. Meditation initiates calmness and peace of mind to initiate effective cognitive memory. Meditation engages one in deeper and intimate self-communication.
A deeper and intimate self-connection is likely to resurface old memories that will sequentially come with other memories.
With consistent sets of meditation, there are greater chances of recovering vague childhood memories.
Self-perception
Self-perception defines one’s self-concept idea about his or her particular set of personality. A self-perceived person has a specific concept about his or her character or unique set of actions.
For instance, a leader has a great chance of remembering some kindergarten class leader roles back in the day.
A parent can do the greater thing to observe, acknowledge, and build a certain child’s personality to improve their self-perception rate. The clearer perception is unlikely to enhance any childhood amnesia to any child.
Neurogenesis study
Another significant methodology is engaging in a neurogenesis study. Engaging in such a study will outline an amazing opportunity for any researcher to generally study the scope of neurons and their relevant scope.
A further comprehensive study is likely to expose a relative victim to many effective ways of handling childhood amnesia.
Conclusion
As we have just discussed, loss of childhood memory can be scary, but it is normal. Whether you had a wonderful childhood or a turbulent one, you will have forgotten some of your early memories by the time you reach adulthood. And it doesn’t have to be linked to trauma.
It is not something to worry about. However, if you notice that you have conflicting memories to what others have told you about your childhood or negative emotions attached to some memories, make a point of seeing a therapist.