On Common Ground: Jost's (1897) law of forgetting and Ribot's (1881) law of retrograde amnesia

T. Ribot's (1881) law of retrograde amnesia states that brain damage impairs recently formed memories to a greater extent than older memories, which is generally taken to imply that memories need time to consolidate. A. Jost's (1897) law of forgetting states that if 2 memories are of the same strength but different ages, the older will decay more slowly than the younger. The main theoretical implication of this venerable law has never been worked out, but it may be the same as that implied by Ribot's law. A consolidation interpretation of Jost's law implies an interference theory of forgetting that is altogether different from the cue-overload view that has dominated thinking in the field of psychology for decades.     

The early memories procedure: a projective test of autobiographical memory, part 2

In Part 1 of this paper, topics germane to the projective assessment of autobiographical memory were discussed. In Part 2, the cognitive-perceptual method will be used to interpret several early memories and a slightly abridged Early Memories Procedure (EMP).     

The Early Memories Procedure: A Projective Test of Autobiographical Memory,Part 2

In Part 1 of this paper, topics germane to the projective assessment of autobiographical memory were discussed. In Part 2, the cognitive-perceptual method will be used to interpret several early memories and a slightly abridged Early Memories Procedure (EMP).     

Childhood amnesia: Empirical evidence for a two-stage phenomenon

The term childhood amnesia refers to the inability of adults to remember events from their infancy and early childhood. If we plot the number of memories that adults can recall as a function of age during childhood, the number of memories reported increases gradually as a function of age. Typically, this finding has been used to argue that gradual changes in memory development contribute to a gradual decline in childhood amnesia during the preschool period. Alternatively, it is possible that pooling data across participants has obscured more abrupt, stage-like changes in the remission of childhood amnesia. In the present study we examined the number and distribution of childhood memories for individual participants. Six adults were repeatedly interviewed about their childhood memories. We found that the distribution of adults' early childhood memories may be less continuous than pooled data suggest. This finding has important implications for current explanations of childhood amnesia.     

Deaf and hearing adults' recollections of childhood and beyond

Whereas the average age of earliest reportable personal memory among adults is 3 to 3½, there is considerable individual and group variability in the age of earliest autobiographical memory. Some of the variability is thought to be attributable to differential narrative socialisation. In the present research we tested the hypothesis that by virtue of later exposure to language, individuals born deaf to hearing parents will have earliest memories from later in life, relative to hearing individuals. The average age of single earliest identifiable memory for adults who are deaf and adults who are hearing did not differ. Nevertheless, adults who are deaf were found to have less dense representations of early autobiographical memories and to include in their narrative reports fewer categories of information, including visual-spatial information, relative to hearing adults. Participants' ratings of their memories on a number of dimensions were found to have low utility in predicting the content of autobiographical reports from both early and later in life (i.e., after age 10 years).     

Deaf and hearing adults' recollections of childhood and beyond

Whereas the average age of earliest reportable personal memory among adults is 3 to 3 1/2, there is considerable individual and group variability in the age of earliest autobiographical memory. Some of the variability is thought to be attributable to differential narrative socialisation. In the present research we tested the hypothesis that by virtue of later exposure to language, individuals born deaf to hearing parents will have earliest memories from later in life, relative to hearing individuals. The average age of single earliest identifiable memory for adults who are deaf and adults who are hearing did not differ. Nevertheless, adults who are deaf were found to have less dense representations of early autobiographical memories and to include in their narrative reports fewer categories of information, including visual-spatial information, relative to hearing adults. Participants' ratings of their memories on a number of dimensions were found to have low utility in predicting the content of autobiographical reports from both early and later in life (i.e., after age 10 years).     

A 2‐year‐old child's memory of hospitalization during early infancy

A child who had had surgery at 5 months of age, and who had been treated at the time for post‐traumatic symptoms (reported in a previous paper by the author), was interviewed 2 years later and almost 3 years later to test for possible verbal recall of his hospitalization. He appeared to have some memories of the experience at 29 months of age, and he was able to superimpose verbal labels onto the preverbal memories. At 40 months of age, however, the memories were no longer verbally accessible. The results are discussed in the context of different theories of encoding, storage, retrieval, and loss of early memories. The findings from this study support other findings indicating that there appears to be some form of long‐term memory in place early in life, at least for highly salient, traumatic events. There may be one memory system for traumatic memories, fully functional at birth, and a later developing, different system for neutral memories. It is further hypothesized that there may be a sensitive period around 2–3 years of age for the recall of early traumatic memories, and that verbal recall is more likely to be present in verbally precocious children during that period. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Childhood amnesia: Empirical evidence for a two-stage phenomenon

The term childhood amnesia refers to the inability of adults to remember events from their infancy and early childhood. If we plot the number of memories that adults can recall as a function of age during childhood, the number of memories reported increases gradually as a function of age. Typically, this finding has been used to argue that gradual changes in memory development contribute to a gradual decline in childhood amnesia during the preschool period. Alternatively, it is possible that pooling data across participants has obscured more abrupt, stage-like changes in the remission of childhood amnesia. In the present study we examined the number and distribution of childhood memories for individual participants. Six adults were repeatedly interviewed about their childhood memories. We found that the distribution of adults' early childhood memories may be less continuous than pooled data suggest. This finding has important implications for current explanations of childhood amnesia.     

Affect and the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis1

In connection with controversial IJP articles by Stern et al. and Fonagy on the interpretation of the repressed and the recovery of past memories, the author maintains that the affect that is inherent in positive transference is at the heart of therapeutic action. Points of view put forward in the controversy (based on neurobiological knowledge) are related to Freudian metapsychology, as well as to their precursors whose scope was necessarily limited by a lack of access to more recent scientific discoveries. The author demonstrates metapsychological elements of therapeutic action inherent in the intersubjective relationship, especially identification, manifested in introjection and empathy. He describes cognitive development as spontaneously blossoming from the affective nucleus, and he explains the neuroscientic bases of this step forward. The classic (interpretative) psychoanalytic method makes up the cognitive superstructure necessary for the organisation of the mind that has sprung from the affective substructure. As a primary factor in psychic change, interpretation is limited in effectiveness to pathologies arising from the verbal phase, related to explicit memories, with no effect in the pre‐verbal phase where implicit memories are to be found. Interpretation the method used to the exclusion of all others for a century is only partial; when used in isolation it does not meet the demands of modern broad‐spectrum psychoanalysis, as the clinical material presented illustrates.     

Defining the boundary of childhood amnesia

When adults are asked to recall their earliest autobiographical memories most can recall nothing about their infancy and early childhood, a phenomenon commonly referred to as childhood amnesia. There is general consensus regarding the existence of childhood amnesia, but there remains considerable debate over its boundary. Most researchers have argued that the boundary of childhood amnesia occurs between the ages of 3 and 4 years, but in 1993 Usher and Neisser published a highly influential paper, which has subsequently been used to argue that the boundary may be as low as 2 years. In the present experiment we examined how changes in scoring criteria influence our estimates of the age of adults' earliest memories. We conclude that some coding criteria are more valid than others and that the best estimates of childhood amnesia will include measures of free recall in addition to the specific questions that have dominated prior research in this area.     

Defining the boundary of childhood amnesia

When adults are asked to recall their earliest autobiographical memories most can recall nothing about their infancy and early childhood, a phenomenon commonly referred to as childhood amnesia. There is general consensus regarding the existence of childhood amnesia, but there remains considerable debate over its boundary. Most researchers have argued that the boundary of childhood amnesia occurs between the ages of 3 and 4 years, but in 1993 Usher and Neisser published a highly influential paper, which has subsequently been used to argue that the boundary may be as low as 2 years. In the present experiment we examined how changes in scoring criteria influence our estimates of the age of adults’ earliest memories. We conclude that some coding criteria are more valid than others and that the best estimates of childhood amnesia will include measures of free recall in addition to the specific questions that have dominated prior research in this area.     

Using cue words to investigate the distribution of autobiographical memories in childhood

The cue-word technique is frequently used with adults to examine the distribution of autobiographical memories across the life span. Such studies demonstrate childhood amnesia: a paucity of memories of events from the first 3(1/2) years of life, and a gradually increasing number of memories from age 3 to age 7. The pattern is remarkable in light of findings of autobiographical competence among children in the period of life eventually obscured by this amnesia. In the present study, we modified the cue-word task for use with school-age children. Seven- to 10-year-olds successfully generated and dated memories of past events. Girls provided more complete narratives than boys. Across the sample, the resulting distribution of memories was better fit by an exponential than by a power function, implying that early memories may not consolidate and instead remain vulnerable to interference. Implications for explanations of childhood amnesia are discussed.     

New perspectives on childhood memory: introduction to the special issue

ABSTRACT

This special issue brings together the scholarship that contributes diverse new perspectives on childhood amnesia – the scarcity of memories for very early life events. The topics of the studies reported in the special issue range from memories of infants and young children for recent and distant life events, to mother–child conversations about memories for extended lifetime periods, and to retrospective recollections of early childhood in adolescents and adults. The methodological approaches are diverse and theoretical insights rich. The findings together show that childhood amnesia is a complex and malleable phenomenon and that the waning of childhood amnesia and the development of autobiographical memory are shaped by a variety of interactive social and cognitive factors. This collective body of work will facilitate discussion and deepen our understanding of the dynamics that influence the accessibility, content, accuracy, and phenomenological qualities of memories from early childhood.     

Fading in

Patient H.M. can form new memories and maintain them for a few seconds before they fade away. From a neurobiological perspective, this amnesia is usually attributed to the absence of memory consolidation, that is, memory storage. An alternative view holds that this impairment reflects that the memory is present but cannot be retrieved. This debate has been unresolved for decades. Here, we will consider some of the arguments that make it so difficult to resolve this issue. In addition, some recent work will be discussed that has gone beyond the shortcomings of previous experimental approaches to strongly suggest that amnesia can be due to a retrieval impairment that can be overcome with a reminder--an example of memories fading in. Finally, this review will suggest some strategies for resolving this debate.     

The reminiscence bump in older adults' life story transitions

Older adults' memories of events that occurred in adolescence and early adulthood are over-represented compared to other lifetime periods. Prior research on this reminiscence bump has focused on qualities of individual memories. The present study used a novel interview method to examine the potential role played by mental representations of extended lifetime periods. Older adults provided oral life stories, and they divided their transcribed narratives into “chapters”. Participants' ages at chapter beginnings and endings showed pronounced reminiscence bumps. The results are consistent with the idea that personal episodes occurring near the boundaries of extended lifetime periods receive preferential processing that enhances long-term memory.     

Autobiographical memory in angry and anxious individuals

Recent studies have found that angry individuals are characterized by more pronounced attentional and interpretation biases toward threat than anxious individuals. The present study examined anger-related, anxiety-related, and neutral autobiographical memories in 35 angry participants, 33 anxious participants, and 29 non-angry/non-anxious, or healthy participants. Objective indices of autobiographical memories (i.e., retrieval latency, coding of specificity and affective tone) suggested that groups retrieved memories with similar properties. However, both angry and anxious participants rated their memories as less pleasant than healthy participants. These results indicate that memory biases are not part of the cognitive sequelae associated with anger and anxiety, although aspects of the appraisal of these personal memories are distorted.     

Culture and language in the emergence of autobiographical memory

Current conceptualizations of childhood amnesia assume that there is a "barrier" to remembering early experiences that must be overcome in order for one to begin to accumulate autobiographical memories. In contrast, we present a social-cultural-developmental perspective on the emergence of autobiographical memory. We first demonstrate the gradual emergence of autobiographical memories across the preschool years and then relate this developmental process to specific developments in language, narrative, and understanding of self and other that vary among individuals, as well as by culture and gender.     

Remembering Early Childhood: How Much, How, and Why (or Why Not)

In this article, we consider recent research on three questions about people's memories for their early childhood: whether childhood amnesia is a real phenomenon, whether implicit memories survive when explicit memories do not, and why early episodic memories are sketchy. The research leads us to form three conclusions. First, we argue that childhood amnesia is a real phenomenon, as long as the term is defined clearly. Specifically, people are able to recall parts of their lives from the period between ages 2 and 5 years, but they recall less from that period than from other periods. Second, we conclude that implicit memories from early childhood may be evident even when explicit memories are not, a finding that suggests early experience may affect behavior in ways that people do not consciously recognize. Third, we argue that although young children are well known to be wonderfully efficient learners of semantic information, they have difficulty in either encoding or retrieving the interlinked aspects of events that lend them their autobiographical character. Although more evidence is needed, the relative lack of episodic memories of early childhood may be linked to maturation of prefrontal cortex.     

儿童的最早记忆特征及其与早期记忆数量的关系

本研究采用记忆流畅性任务和回忆最早记忆的方式考察了9岁和13岁共60名中国城镇独生儿童的早期记忆特征及各特征之间的关系。结果发现:(1)和西方研究相比,中国儿童回忆最早记忆时更多自发提及他人,尤其是父母。(2)最早记忆年龄与早期记忆数量有显著负相关,最早记忆中关于重要他人的记忆容量、社会取向和道德情绪与早期记忆数量有显著正相关。这些结果说明文化渗透对自传体记忆发生的影响,以及提示无论是最早记忆的质量,还是早期记忆的数量,回忆童年记忆背后可能潜藏着共同机制。     

Martin Mayman's early memories technique: bridging the gap between personality assessment and psychotherapy

In this article, we describe Martin Mayman's approach to early childhood memories as a projective technique, beginning with his scientific interest in learning theory, coupled with his interest in ego psychology and object relations theory. We describe Mayman's contributions to the use of the early memories technique to inform the psychotherapy process, tying assessment closely to psychotherapy and making assessment more useful in treatment. In this article, we describe a representative sample of research studies that demonstrate the reliability and validity of early memories, followed by case examples in which the early memories informed the therapy process, including issues of transference and countertransference.