Speculation concerning childhood memories

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In a rather unscientific sampling, it would appear that Aspies tend to have memories from earlier ages than most people.

I just ran across this (admittedly nothing close to a peer reviewed journal article, but interesting nonetheless):

Sorry, you're not allowed, it's not peer reviewed, serious research.

We just had a thread on this where many of us related our earliest memories, mine was when I was 1
One fella remembered being in the womb.

I knew an NT Woman who couldn't remember anything from before she was 18, imagine that!

I'm always a little skeptical of people who claim to remember things from that young an age. If you imagine what it's like to be in the womb enough times over a period of time, that imagining can seem as or more 'real' than most of your actual memories, and can be mistaken for one. I'm not claiming to know that that is what is happening in these cases, but I suspect it is. While the above article is not exactly scientific, there have been many scientific experiments and studies which show memory to be quite inaccurate and subject to editing.

i remember somewhere between the ages of 1 and 3, i was standing in my crib, which was located next to my mother's bed. she was asleep in her bed at the time, and i wanted to be closer to her so i crawled out of my crib and jumped upon her bed, which awoke her with a start, she exclaimed "WHA??! !" she then hastily put me back in my crib then shoved my crib up against the far wall away from her bed. i remember starting to bang my head against the wall in anger. when i was about 3 i remember standing in my crib [now in my own little bedroom] and looking at the black&white tv set through a partially open door- i remember seeing the trapezoidal symbol of NAPA auto parts in a commercial and hearing a low-pitched tv announcer's voice.

I remember my diaper being changed. I remember that my diaper had safety pins and that the pins would sometimes stick me. I remember my sister around to help change my diaper and my getting angry because I didn't want her to help change my diaper.

There have been a few threads on this recently, its well documented about aspies having better long memories, auntblabby, i recall seeing the Chevy C/K pickup ads with Bob Seger's Like a rock blasting, I could have not have been more then more then 2 years old, maybe 1 as I can recall the picture grain, the truck pictured and the home I was in. No wonder I love Seger and old Chevy trucks! "Like a rock, 24/7 365 days a year" as they used to say.

My earliest memory is from I was 1. It's always been with me, it's not something I have imagined a lot and gotten the idea I remember. I never forgot it. There are other things I know have happened because my family member s have told me so, and because I know us I can imagine what it was like, but I can't remember it. There is no mistaking the two.

When I was a child I never felt like a child. I felt older than my years. (That has since changed but that's irrelevant.) I thought the other children were usually extremely childish and that they sounded stupid and slow. I wonder if that sensation of being older than your peers on the inside has anything to do with it? If you're mentally older then it's not so weird that you do remember. It would've been interesting to know if those who remember their first three years felt older, younger or the same as children.

Emotions are important too, most memories are remembered because they are emotional memories in some way.

I've been doing some searching for more information about the hippocampus and Autism. Interestingly enough, the material I have seen so far seems to indicate that there are differences in the hippocampus and the amygdala, both of which are involved in memory.

For example, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15514404:

I do have incredibly accurate memory of childhood events myself. But I don't believe this is only applicable to Aspies. My relative has schizophrenia and she remembers being one year old in her cot and being terrified of a big doll she was given.

I've had two thoughts regarding this question. The first is that maybe we shouldn't be asking why some people remember these very early years, but why most people forget. What is the process in the brain that causes these childhood memories to be forgotten, and why does this process not occur in some people?

My next thought is that maybe there is no such process, and it isn't that we forget being very young children, but that we never form the memories in the first place. In other words; I can't remember being 2 years old and I can't remember being 3 years old, but could the 3 year old me remember being 2 years old? Obviously young children do have memories, after all they learn a lot at that age, and they can usually remember what they ate for lunch yesterday etc., but perhaps whatever mechanism converts these memories of events into long term memories doesn't begin until a certain age (in most people).

I was quite surprised to find out many people have no memories before age 4. While my earliest verifiable memory was at age 3 I have memories that I am positive from when I was a baby. One in particular I was sitting in a park in the summertime and the feeling was good beyond words. I recently revisited the neighbourhood that we moved out of when I turned 1 and to my shock, the park was there exactly as I remembered it. I can talk with pre-schoolers very well because I still remember being 3-4 years old like it was yesterday: the crazy hairdo my teachers had, the gym where I loved to run around by myself and the black doors with the gray handles. People tell me all the time I'm just making this up but two years ago I went and verified everything and my memory was dead on. I can even remember how the pre-schooler was the only place where smoking was not allowed at the time and what a relief that was.

I don't remember anything before the age of 3 really. I only have one or two very quick, vague memories, but otherwise I don't remember anything. My memories get more vivid as I got older, but I remember more of when I was at school than at home, but I can remember more of being at home when I was around 8 or 9 and up.

A lot of NTs I know do remember their first day of school, and some even have memories of preschool.