DCL Task 3 Infantile Amnesia
Learning goals
1. Infantile amnesia and developmental course
2. Measuring infantile amnesia
3. Bauer model
4. Development of different memory processes and brain networks
1. Infantile amnesia and theories
Adults are unable to remember specific events from our first few years of life. We cannot
remember events that happened in the first 2-3 years of life and between 3-7y, adults recall
very few memories (spotty memory). Forgetting curve: forgetting is a linear function of the
time since an event, but cannot account for infantile amnesia.
Implicit memory refers to the unconscious learning that is expressed by changes in task
performance as the result of experience, it does not need verbal declaring. Declarative/explicit
memory refers to the conscious recollection of facts and events. Infantile amnesia typically
refers to the absence of declarative memories. The capacity to form and verbally recall
declarative memories gradually emerges as an infant develops (from 24–36 mo of age). So
children form and verbally report event memories, yet these same memories are inaccessible
when these children become adults. Children can learn and remember information for a short
period of time, but these memories are quickly forgotten or become otherwise inaccessible.
Theories
- Human cognitive/psychological theories: ability to form enduring memories in
humans coincides with emergence of developmental milestones, such as the
acquisition of a sense of “self”, theory of mind, or language. Verbal reminiscing may
aid memory retention, and the concept of self would help humans encode and store
enduring personal memories. However, it is also observed in nonhuman species.
- Information processing theories: there is impairment in memory encoding, storage or
retrieval. However, information acquisition and initial memory expression are intact so
initial differences in learning and/or memory expression could not account for this.
Other explanations focus on memory retrieval: memories formed in childhood are
permanently stored but cannot be accessed in adulthood. The retrieval deficit
hypothesis is consistent with findings that memories are maximally recalled when the
retrieval conditions closely match the conditions at encoding. Adults can never
recapitulate the conditions of infancy.
- Biological or neurological theories:
Immature brain:
key structures for memory formation and storage (hippocampus and dentate gyrus) are
insufficiently mature at the time of memory formation to process these memories. Results
from the cortex not yet being online in infants; still need more synaptic density and
myelination. The rapid myelination in the first year may account for changes in processing
speed.
Ongoing brain maturation:
While memory formation is more or less normal in infants, continued brain maturation after
initial acquisition may interfere with stabilization or consolidation of the memory trace,
Learning goals
1. Infantile amnesia and developmental course
2. Measuring infantile amnesia
3. Bauer model
4. Development of different memory processes and brain networks
1. Infantile amnesia and theories
Adults are unable to remember specific events from our first few years of life. We cannot
remember events that happened in the first 2-3 years of life and between 3-7y, adults recall
very few memories (spotty memory). Forgetting curve: forgetting is a linear function of the
time since an event, but cannot account for infantile amnesia.
Implicit memory refers to the unconscious learning that is expressed by changes in task
performance as the result of experience, it does not need verbal declaring. Declarative/explicit
memory refers to the conscious recollection of facts and events. Infantile amnesia typically
refers to the absence of declarative memories. The capacity to form and verbally recall
declarative memories gradually emerges as an infant develops (from 24–36 mo of age). So
children form and verbally report event memories, yet these same memories are inaccessible
when these children become adults. Children can learn and remember information for a short
period of time, but these memories are quickly forgotten or become otherwise inaccessible.
Theories
- Human cognitive/psychological theories: ability to form enduring memories in
humans coincides with emergence of developmental milestones, such as the
acquisition of a sense of “self”, theory of mind, or language. Verbal reminiscing may
aid memory retention, and the concept of self would help humans encode and store
enduring personal memories. However, it is also observed in nonhuman species.
- Information processing theories: there is impairment in memory encoding, storage or
retrieval. However, information acquisition and initial memory expression are intact so
initial differences in learning and/or memory expression could not account for this.
Other explanations focus on memory retrieval: memories formed in childhood are
permanently stored but cannot be accessed in adulthood. The retrieval deficit
hypothesis is consistent with findings that memories are maximally recalled when the
retrieval conditions closely match the conditions at encoding. Adults can never
recapitulate the conditions of infancy.
- Biological or neurological theories:
Immature brain:
key structures for memory formation and storage (hippocampus and dentate gyrus) are
insufficiently mature at the time of memory formation to process these memories. Results
from the cortex not yet being online in infants; still need more synaptic density and
myelination. The rapid myelination in the first year may account for changes in processing
speed.
Ongoing brain maturation:
While memory formation is more or less normal in infants, continued brain maturation after
initial acquisition may interfere with stabilization or consolidation of the memory trace,
