Infantile Amnesia Term Paper

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Infantile Amnesia and Causes

Infantile Amnesia is defined as the failure of an individual to remember events from their early years of life. According to Freud, infantile amnesia usually entails a loss of memory of events that occurred before the sixth or eighth year. (Freud 1905,1953) Freud asserted that many early childhood memories were to startling to recall and were therefore filtered out and become screen memories.(Johnston n.d.)

There are several explanations for the occurrence of infantile amnesia, which include; neurological immaturity, lack of memory ability, lack of sense of self, and amnesia caused by sexual abuse. There is no clear consensus on the causes of infantile amnesia, but most clinicians agree that any of these factors play a role in infantile amnesia. Over the next few paragraphs we will explore these factors in detail.

Neurological Immaturity

The theory of neurological immaturity suggests that the brain of a young simply isn't developed enough to process certain memories. This is a popular view for explaining the occurrence of infantile amnesia amongst clinicians. Studies have illustrated that between 8 and 24 months of age there is a synaptogenesis that occurs in the frontal cortex. (Johnston n.d.) In addition, after the age of two the process slows and allows a greater ability to recall certain events. (Johnston n.d.)

In addition, Freud suggests that throughout ones development processes through which we recall change. (Bauer 1996) Freud asserts that early childhood memories are often repressed but he also suggests that memories that young children create are different from those formed at older ages. (Bauer 1996) An article published in the journal, American Psychologists found that "Early in development, children were thought to retain traces, fragments, or images of events, but not to retain coherent representations of past experiences (Freud, 1905 / 1953).

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Freud suggested that childhood amnesia exists because adults failed to reconstruct or "translate" these fragments to a coherent narrative." (Bauer 1996)

Lack of memory ability

In spite of neurological immaturity in infants there is a belief that infants have a more sophisticated memory process. An experiment conducted by Meltzoff illustrated the concept of a deferred imitation paradigm. (Johnston n.d.) This paradigm asserts that children between the ages of 14 and 16 months old can remember single events over time. (Johnston n.d.) However, they will remember repetitive or habitual events even more, for which they must practice. These habitual events aid a child in the development of motor skills. (Johnston n.d.)

Another experiment conducted by Rover Collier and a group of other clinicians, explored the theory of the mobile conjugate reinforcement paradigm. In this particular study the clinicians tied a ribbon, connected to a mobile, to the ankle of an infant. (Johnston n.d.) The purpose of the experiment was to see if the infant would make the connection between the movement of his leg to the subsequent movement of the mobile. The clinicians also wanted to see if the infant would remember this connection over a period of time. (Johnston n.d.) The study found that the infants were able to recall this connection over long periods of time but only when reactivation was used to help the infant with the recollection process. The study concluded that people do have the ability to recall early childhood over a lifetime,….....

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