Childhood Amnesia Essay example - 2340 Words

Childhood Amnesia A fundamental aspect of human memory is that the more time elapsed since an event, the fainter the memory becomes. This has been shown to be true on a relatively linear scale with the exception of our first three to four years of life (Fitzgerald, 1991). It is even common for adults not to have any memory before the age of six or seven. The absence of memory in these first years has sparked much interest as to how and why it happens. Ever since Freud (1916/1963) first popularized the phenomenon there have been many questions and few robust empirical studies. Childhood amnesia is defined as the period of life from which no events are remembered (Usher Neisser, 1993) beginning at birth and ending at the onset of your†¦show more content†¦One such variable is the family specific knowledge that a volunteer has accumulated over the course of their life. Loftus, (1993) suggested that early childhood memories are greatly influenced by ones amassed, family knowledge. For example, a participant who knows that his or her cousin was closely involved in their upbringing is likely to guess that he or she was present at an important event without any actual memory of the fact. Contributing factors to this are family stories, photographs, home movies, etc. The variance of memories between participants also makes it hard to convert what is reported into significant terms. For example, my earliest memory is from when I was about four years old and my grandmother gave me a piece of amethyst in a wooden quart basket similar to one you buy berries in. This information given its degree of accuracy is quite difficult to generalize since every other person will recount a unique story. A method used by experimenters to compensate for this is the targeting of a specific, datable event common to many individuals. In the 1993 experiment by Usher and Neisser, these target events consisted of the birth of a younger sibling, a hospitalization, the death of a family member and a fa mily move. The use of targeted recall has helped solve one problem with infantile amnesic research but as we will see there are still many problems with the experimentalShow MoreRelatedChildhood Amnesia and the Beginnings of Memory for Four Early Life Events1228 Words   |  5 PagesWhen we ask people to recall experiences, they rarely report memories dating from much before about three years of age. For the purpose of this assessment I have chosen the ‘Childhood Amnesia and the Beginnings of Memory for Four Early Life Events’ conducted by JoNell A. Usher and Ulric Neisser, published in 1993 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Therefore, in the following paragraphs I will outline the aim of the study, the methodology and the overall findings. The current researchRead MoreThe Boundaries Of Childhood Amnesia Essay1629 Words   |  7 Pages Understanding the boundaries of childhood amnesia has become a large discussion among researchers. Over the years, researchers have developed multiple theories of the boundaries of childhood amnesia for adults, adolescents, and as well for children by using different methodology of measurement (Usher Neisser, 1993; Eacott Crawley, 1998; Macdonald et al., 2000; Peterson et al., 2000; Tusin and Hayne 2010; Wang Peterson, 2014 2016). Childhood amnesia occurs when adults are unable to recallRead MoreSymptoms And Symptoms Of The Memory Loss1246 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Amnesia is a mental illness that refers to memory loss. The cause for the memory loss can be due to several factors. The memory loss could be due to emotionally disturbing events; memory loss can also be cause of physical harm usually to the cephalic region. The disease also interrupts the normal everyday functioning of a person suffering amnesia. An individual may still be able to carry out certain activities despite the amnesia. Fortunately, there are diverse ways to treat amnesia. PathophysiologyRead MorePaper on Amnesia1460 Words   |  6 PagesAmnesia Amnesia is typically defined as partial or total loss of memory. The occurrence of amnesia can arise at any age. Individuals who suffer from amnesia typically remain lucid and preserve their sense of self. Amnesiacs can obtain a perfectly normal appearance despite the amnesia. Moreover, they also have the capacity to read and comprehend words. Based on these facts, researchers have arrived at the conclusion that more than one area in the brain is used for storing facts. One type of amnesiaRead More Retrograde and Anterograde Amnesia Essay examples785 Words   |  4 PagesRetrograde and Anterograde Amnesia Darling, what did you say was Sues number? I dont remember stripping at Dans birthday party last year! No officer, I dont know what happened after the accident. I cant even remember my name. Amnesia is the partial or complete loss of memory, most commonly is temporary and for only a short period of time. (1). There are various degrees of amnesia with the most commonly occurrence being either retrograde or anterograde amnesia. Prior to my researchRead MoreThe Repressed Mind Of Victims That The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd )956 Words   |  4 PagesResearchers, J. Douglas Bremner, Katherine Krause Shobe and John K. Kihlstrom establish in their study on the repressed mind of victims that the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that women of childhood sexual abuse exhibited poorer memory for words that had been recently studied and increased insertions of alternative words other than critical lures (Bremner, Shobe, Kihlstrom, 2000). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to the Mayo Clinic, Is a mental health condition that s triggeredRead MoreThe Portrayal Of Mental Illness1972 Words   |  8 Pagesescapes his pursuers. The movie ends with Bourne stil l not knowing much about his past apart from what he has discovered from other people and his flashbacks of the night he lost his memory. Reinhold and Markowitsch (2009) discuss retrograde amnesia and the types of memory that can be affected by it. They make a distinction between episodic and semantic memory where episodic memory is the memory of past experiences and semantic memory is accumuated knowledge. Not only are these processes differentRead MoreElizabeth Loftus and Repressed Memories2121 Words   |  9 PagesElizabeth F. Loftus: The Reality of Repressed Memories Alyssa Ellis Killebrew 11/9/2010 Elizabeth Loftus Brief Biography Childhood amp; Personal Recollections Elizabeth (fondly known as Beth) Fishman Loftus parents met and married while stationed at Fort Ord, during World War II. Sidney Fishman, Elizabeth’s father, was an Army doctor and her mother, Rebecca was an army base librarian. Beth was the oldest of three children. In 1944, Elizabeth Fishman was born and then her twoRead MoreFilm Analysis of Memento Essay845 Words   |  4 PagesChristopher Nolan also wrote the short story and screenplay. This film is about a man named Leonard, played by Guy Pearce, who suffered a major brain injury to the hippocampus that left him with a rare memory disorder called anterograde amnesia. This disorder causes Leonard not to be able to form any new memories. Leonard is now trying to find and kill the person who murdered his wife to avenge his wife’s death. Carrie-Anne Moss plays a friend of Leonard, or so he thinksRead More The Controversy Surrounding Multiple Personality Disorder Essay2499 Words   |  10 Pagesbe that no one really understands what an alter personality is, so it is therefore hard to believe they exist. Besides the apparent presence of alter personalities, there are many other symptoms that point to MPD. One of these is significant amnesia which cant be explained by ordinary forgetfulness (Carroll). If MPD is suspected, a patient is often asked if they have experienced any periods of extreme unexplainable memory loss. Richmond offers a few examples of such memory loss, such as finding