How far can you remember?

[Itchy Feet]

How far back can you remember your life?
I can remember back to I was 5. I cannot remember anything before that.
At what age does memory formed?

 

[Cogwulf]

The earliest memory I have is of moving to a new house when I was three, except it's just a single memory, not anywhere near a complete memory of my life at that time. I have more and more memories as I got older from there.

 

[_whispers_]

I have a blurry memory about the whole memory thing. As far as I can remember it depended on a substance in your brain. Children start forming it when they are 2 or 3 years old and then up till 5 they gather impressions and little memories, but yeah basically when you are 4 or 5 you start really remembering. Someone correct me if I`m wrong.

As far as my first memory goes it is from my little sister and I was probably 5 years old and a few months.

P.S: Or maybe the reason was that you brain wasn`t developed enough...

 

[Da Blob]

I believe that the 'party line' is wrong on memory, which is that memory does not form usually until the age of three or four, because it is dependent on the development of a certain physical part of the brain. However, there does seem to be a form of memory that is usually not accessible to conscious recall. I have memories that go all the way back to the womb and I remember the Doctors deliberately breaking my foot without anaesthesia when I was six weeks old to correct for a club foot. At that time those who claim that memory starts at the age of 3 or 4, were claiming that infants could not experience pain as such, as it was a "Learned Behavior"...

I think I started a thread once about memories of the womb. There was a fad once, I think that resulted from a book. People were investing in sensory deprivation chambers to relive the experiences of the womb. Apparently this is an ongoing thing and many find these chambers to provide an ultimate comfort and very therapeutic...

 

[KazeCraven]

My earliest memory was around age four, though I forgot the significance of it and now all I remember is that my earliest memory used to be when I was four.

I was under the impression that I had an unusually late start on memories, but I guess not then.

My "real" memories don't start until around kindergarten or first grade, but I'm not sure how much I remember even from then, as I left a school system after third grade and when I integrated back into the system in seventh grade, people (who I was "certain" I'd never met) appeared to remember me quite well.

 

[Sparrow]

I remember potty training...dunno how old I was...

And getting circumcised...painful - I was 3.

I actually remember a lot from when I was 3, maybe even 2 and a half...A LOT.

 

[Darby]

I have 2-3 short clips that I can remember from before I was five, I was probably three or so, but nothing more than that. Occasionally I'll get a "oh yeah, I remember that one thing!" but it's rare, and it hold for long.

 

[Adymus]

I think I was four, meeting one my neighbors for the first time. The next memory right above that one is playing with a transformer in kindergarten (So Five.)

 

[Starfruit M.E.]

I remember my brother in a diaper sitting up but not being able to talk... and we're a year and a half apart. So I was probably around 2. Anyways, I wanted him to shut up because he kept blabbing on in baby and people were ignoring me. And I remember being like 2 or 3 and putting wooden clothes pins in a bucket with my stuffed polar bear. Plus I have pretty solid pictures of my room then, and my house, and my closet. I know what clothes I had in there even. So I guess I would say my earliest memories were when I was 2. Unfortunately, I don't remember burying my shoe in the back yard when I was three. lol (I found it again when I was in 3rd or 4th grade.)

 

[Words]

This thread is making me view the past as an "erased series of events"; perhaps memories aren't real. The only event I can, without doubt, believe in is the present. No, It doesn't matter so much on how vague our memories that we'll be confused of its origin; whether from actual history or simply from a dream. What we know is that we can't entirely prove it. At my version of present, the thought of "maybe my mother and sisters aren't my real family" is reliving itself. Perhaps they're a number doppelgangers that continuously switches each time I sleep. And another day of suspicion begins...

I guess my answer is simply "right now"...or perhaps I'm just too doubtful, but It would be boring, imo, to simply say 4, 3 or 2, though, realistically, I don't remember anything except for pictures of myself as a kid and a "mental recording" of me being carried by someone, which was probably a time when I wasn't thinking of my age. I really don't know.

 

[FrostFern]

I remember being carried on my father's back by the ocean. There was this concrete retaining wall we were walking along and the waves were hitting against it. The noise of the waves terrified me. I had just turned 2. It's a sort-of-vague snapshot - more like a memory of a memory rather than a direct recollection.

I have much more vivid memories from the age of three on. I can remember my uncle's wedding reception in Georgia. It was held in the yard of this plantation-style house. I remember wanting to play the piano inside the house. I also remember taking a walk in the field out back and encountering these fire ant hills that seemed almost as big as I was.

 

[bananaphallus]

I remember bits n' pieces of preschool, so I would've been three I think. It's really a shame I can't remember being birthed.

 

[LAM]

2-2.5 My house and my parents after I first went for some time to that infernal day care in Croatia where I got viciously bullied everyday.

 

[FrostFern]

It's really a shame I can't remember being birthed.

I can't imagine it being a pleasant memory. Usually the first thing a healthy newborn does is scream. For a baby who's delicate senses are accustomed to temperature of the womb the instant coldness of the hospital room would be a shock, a complete assault on the senses.

 

[bananaphallus]

I also doubt it'd be pleasant, but just being able to recollect the sights and sounds of your entrance into this world would be pretty incredible/gross.

 

[Adymus]

I can't imagine it being a pleasant memory. Usually the first thing a healthy newborn does is scream. For a baby who's delicate senses are accustomed to temperature of the womb the instant coldness of the hospital room would be a shock, a complete assault on the senses.

Memories of unpleasant things are not necessarily unpleasant themselves.

For instance, I once had this really bad mushroom trip, and it was one of the most frightening experiencing experiences of my life. However, the memories I have of what was going through my mind and what I was seeing are extremely fascinating.

 

[FrostFern]

Memories of unpleasant things are not necessarily unpleasant themselves.

For instance, I once had this really bad mushroom trip, and it was one of the most frightening experiencing experiences of my life. However, the memories I have of what was going through my mind and what I was seeing are extremely fascinating.

You have a good point.

 

[Polaris]

I remember being strapped down in my pram, and trying desperately to get up, and my nappies were really bulky and irritating and my stupid bonnet kept slipping over my eyes. In other words, I remember entrapment. I would have been nearly one. I have many vivid memories from I was about one and up to year three at primary school. Then I shut everything out for about six years.

 

[tashi]

The clearest, earliest memory I possess is of watching my grandmother's death, after she was struck by a car. I remember all the events that lead up to and precede it, but I don't remember actually seeing my grandmother's mutilated body lying on the pavement. I believe I was about two and a half at the time. I have plenty of semi-clear memories from before that, but none of them stand out as distinctly as that one. I definitly have a decent long term memory, and can recall quite vividly a great deal of my childhood. It's the short term memory that I struggle with.

 

[Vatroslav]

I remember some things when I was about 2 to 3 years old... hard to determine what is my first memory... it's pretty mixed up there... I remember how I felt time much slower then I do now... It's interesting...

 

[Saeros]

It's kind of difficult to tell whether early memories of childhood are genuine. Memories tend to degrade over time. False memories can be implanted, old memories can be reconstructed, or imagined. There is some interesting research on false memories, here are some urls:

- http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/02/implanting-false-memories-lost-in-mall.php
- http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/sciam.htm

As for my first memory, probably about 5 yrs.

 

[Grove]

I remember dancing (read holding on to the bar and bouncing) in my play pin while my dad played records. I remember being on the "baby side" at the YWCA daycare and stealing the counselor's coffee and "escaping" from my crib at nap time. Play pin...no idea. Coffee and crib...2-3.

 

[The Lurker]

I can remember back to about 4 years old, though I do have one very fleeting and vague memory of earlier times, I can only guess that I was around 2 or 3. I was sitting in front of various relatives, seated in either black or brown folding chairs, with a toy tape cassette player/recorder.

Yeah, pretty unexciting.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I have some memories of when I was 3, and some spotty memory-like images of when I was 2. My wife has one memory of when she was six months old, but that was because of the severity of the trauma she experienced.

Dave

 

[Il Nessuno]

Earliest memory is me in kindergarten eating a NASTY cookies that our teacher gave all of us.......that is all.

 

[warryer]

I can remember back when I was 3. I walked up behind my grandma who was playing with my younger brother and sister. I took this plastic clip and tried to pull out some of her hair with it. It didn't work.

I also remember I used to be a rotten little bastard at that age.