What do Infants Recall/Child Amnesia?

The article, What do Infants Recall of their Lives? Memory for Specific Events by one- to two-year-olds was published in January 01, 1996 by Patricia J. Bauer. It was broadly believed that newborns and children below the age of three years were not able to remember the events that took place in their life. Research has been carried out to reveal this assumption including findings of representative capability in children below three years and evidence of long-term recall capabilities. The primary focus of this article is to conduct study using different methodologies to gather evidence based on this assumption. The results rejected the traditional assumptions and moved forward to reveal factors that justify the changes in memory from early childhood. The findings indicate that even the children of one year remember things in the past through short- term recall and long-term recall.

The hypothesis of the study is based on the assumptions that infants and children of one to three years could not recall the events of their lives. It was assumed that children below the age of three years could not remember things that had previously happened in their lives (Bauer, 1996). Therefore, the study was conducted through use of methods such as naturalistic observations, experimentations, case studies and surveys to determine if the hypothesis is true or false. The researchers sampled different population including infants, children from one, two and three years old. In addition, after six years, research was conducted to determine if children could still recall things that happened in the past. Later, the data was analyzed through comparing immediate and delayed experiments that were carried out in the laboratory. It was discovered that age did not affect the memory of the children because children of different age groups remembered things differently. The results produced indicated that children forget things for a short period but they remember them after a long period (Bauer, 1996).

The research was conducted through the natural observation method and the researchers provided evidence that infants learn things as they grow thus benefit from their experiences of the past. Consequently, evidence of visual displays for instance, children below two months learn that through kicking their legs, they can move things they want near to them. It was evidenced through natural observation that many infants tend to stare at things for a longer period trying to recall where and when they first saw those things. However, it was assumed that children from two to three years could be able to recall things from the past because they are familiar with different things from the past events.

However, the above methodology is subjected to problems for instance memories may lead to definite ambiguity in the process. The method is not clear because it requires the adults to support their children in identifying certain things. Nevertheless, it is not a clear method because it is hard to determine what the children are thinking in their mind. Visual observation sometimes cannot be associated with the recalling of the events. The method does not give clear evidence because it is hard to determine the memory of children through observation. This leads to distorted information when carrying out research on child recalling capacity.

The methodology of experimentation was conducted in order to determine if children could recall their past. Children were given an opportunity to emulate through verbal and non-verbal communication. The non-verbal served as the measure for which children were tested their memory to recall the events. Children were taken to the laboratory playing room and their parents sat near them so that they could be comfortable. Parents were told not to help their children and then the experimenters gave children the supporting items to enable them produce the results. The experimenter labeled some certain events and then narrated the events meanwhile using the supporting items. Later the experimenter instructed the children to repeat the same (Bauer, 1996).

In addition, the long-term recall was tested and parents were told to return their children to the laboratory after some delays. The supporting items were placed in front of the children and they were instructed to repeat what they had already been done. The result was produced through comparing performances of the delayed and immediate testing. The immediate testing revealed that children could recall events for a short period when they see things immediately. In the case of long-term recall, the test revealed that age does not determine the extended recall of events because children have different reasoning capacities.

The method had problems because the repeated experience on recalling events had an effect on children especially one and two year olds. For instance, 14 month-old children could remember accurately and even defeat those of 29 months (Bauer, 1996). This experiment required to be repeated several times in order to give accurate information. The experimenter used non-contingent movement to determine infants’ behaviors and the result did not meet the criteria of children recalling the events. This methodology could not provide better results of recalling events but rather determined children’s learning skills. Recall entails certain cognitive factors depending on the experience of the past without any support to determine the experience thus the method is not suitable.

Lastly, survey methodology was conducted to investigate if children can recall events after a long period. The surveyors interviewed 15 first-graders about the trip that they made a year earlier (Bauer, 1996). They were asked whether they could recall what happened when they went to the Jewish museum. A few children recalled it but the rest could not remember it. This survey method indicated that older children’s recalling memory of events is achieved through reminding them. In this case, verbal reminding has an effect on children of one to two years especially on delayed intervals. The method provides an irrelevant data because not all children could form and maintain memories of exact events.

Reference

Bauer, P. J. (January 01, 1996). What do infants recall of their lives? Memory for specific events

by one- to two-year-olds. The American Psychologist, 51, 1, 29-41.