4 ms·

I can't remember the vast majority of stuff before I was 2-3 but I remember seeing my younger sibling when they were bought home, there's less than a year betwe

I can't remember the vast majority of stuff before I was 2-3 but I remember seeing my younger sibling when they were bought home, there's less than a year between us. And I can remember a few other things earlier, they they are definitely fuzzier.

dsego 2y ago
I also believe I have several distinct memories from around 1 or 2, but it's not clear that they are real and not just confabulations. I probably have bigger gaps in primary school, things faded away.
- dijit 2y ago
  Frustratingly, a lot of what we think are memories are in fact: us remembering remembering. Human memory is increasingly fallible with time because of this. It's like playing chinese whispers with our own recollection, everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. It makes sense that you would remember distinct events, but the trouble here is that nearly all memory as you so eloquently described, is "just confabulations"- which feels wrong instinctively, until it's challenged scientifically.
  - taurath 2y ago
    Some fact or visual memory is as that, but our memories are also made up of sensory sensations and emotional states, and combinations abound. In fact, a big part of what makes PTSD is a split off different aspects of a remembered event because it’s so difficult to process the whole experience. This takes place after a traumatic event, during attempts at memory consolidation. Also traumatic memory seems to be stored differently than day to day memory, which helps explain that triggers and flashbacks are valid and real (for traumatized ppl), while the confabulation effect can also exist. Though I’d note that confabulation can happen but that doesn’t mean it “overwrites” the old memory, or that confabulation is in any way more common than just remembering a part or a whole event.
  - throwayaw2 2y ago
    I have some pretty intense trauma in my life that I can recall extremely vividly even though i have little memory of the weeks surrounding the event. Often when I don't even want to. Certain memories are true memories.
- ben_w 2y ago
  I have some from "shorter than a table" age (I can no longer rember even which year), which later turned out to have been dreams from before I knew the difference between them and reality.
- alexjplant 2y ago
  I remember a handful of insanely specific things from this age that I've since verified with my parents - I generally don't seem to misremember or fabricate memories. That being said there are a _lot_ of things that I require prompting via photo or video to remember and probably 90% of my life from that time is unrecoverable. I vividly recall random moments from family functions and some intense nightmares but the family dog, for instance, is a complete black hole. Weird stuff. Primary school is still knocking around but I think I (and many others) suppress it to retain their sanity in adulthood :-P
globular-toast 2y ago
I had an illness as a child which meant I was in and out of hospital for a while. I have a few very fuzzy memories from this time. The earliest, I think, was when my grandparents had come to the hospital. All I can remember is the feeling of the situation. They were all worried. I'm not even sure if I could talk at the time. I'm certain this memory is real because nobody has ever talked about this; it's not really a notable event for anyone else involved. I also remember getting transported to Great Ormond Street in the night. I remember going in the back of a strange car (taxi? Hospital transport?) with a tartan blanket. I also remember being given a suppository, something that I didn't believe was actually real until about 20 years later (people don't really talk about them). But I can't remember at all whether my siblings were there or not. I'm 2-3 years older than my brothers but in my memory they were just always there.
- Carrok 2y ago
  > it's not really a notable event for anyone else involved. I’m sorry but, what? You think your extended family visiting a child in a hospital due to illness was not a notable event for them? > They were all worried. As a parent I can assure you it was a notable event, or no one would have been there, and they would not have been worried.
  - globular-toast 2y ago
    Erm... OK, but I've actually, you know, talked to my parents about this during the decades since. Nobody remembers this particular event because it was one night out of weeks of things getting bad, then worse, before finally getting better. This was almost certainly not the only time the grandparents visited, but it's the only one I remember. Adults' memories don't just play out like a recording either. They remember many other details that wouldn't have been shared with me even if I could have understood it.

dsego 2y ago

I also believe I have several distinct memories from around 1 or 2, but it's not clear that they are real and not just confabulations. I probably have bigger gaps in primary school, things faded away.

dijit 2y ago
Frustratingly, a lot of what we think are memories are in fact: us remembering remembering. Human memory is increasingly fallible with time because of this. It's like playing chinese whispers with our own recollection, everything is a copy of a copy of a copy. It makes sense that you would remember distinct events, but the trouble here is that nearly all memory as you so eloquently described, is "just confabulations"- which feels wrong instinctively, until it's challenged scientifically.
- taurath 2y ago
  Some fact or visual memory is as that, but our memories are also made up of sensory sensations and emotional states, and combinations abound. In fact, a big part of what makes PTSD is a split off different aspects of a remembered event because it’s so difficult to process the whole experience. This takes place after a traumatic event, during attempts at memory consolidation. Also traumatic memory seems to be stored differently than day to day memory, which helps explain that triggers and flashbacks are valid and real (for traumatized ppl), while the confabulation effect can also exist. Though I’d note that confabulation can happen but that doesn’t mean it “overwrites” the old memory, or that confabulation is in any way more common than just remembering a part or a whole event.
- throwayaw2 2y ago
  I have some pretty intense trauma in my life that I can recall extremely vividly even though i have little memory of the weeks surrounding the event. Often when I don't even want to. Certain memories are true memories.
ben_w 2y ago
I have some from "shorter than a table" age (I can no longer rember even which year), which later turned out to have been dreams from before I knew the difference between them and reality.
alexjplant 2y ago
I remember a handful of insanely specific things from this age that I've since verified with my parents - I generally don't seem to misremember or fabricate memories. That being said there are a _lot_ of things that I require prompting via photo or video to remember and probably 90% of my life from that time is unrecoverable. I vividly recall random moments from family functions and some intense nightmares but the family dog, for instance, is a complete black hole. Weird stuff. Primary school is still knocking around but I think I (and many others) suppress it to retain their sanity in adulthood :-P

globular-toast 2y ago

I had an illness as a child which meant I was in and out of hospital for a while. I have a few very fuzzy memories from this time. The earliest, I think, was when my grandparents had come to the hospital. All I can remember is the feeling of the situation. They were all worried. I'm not even sure if I could talk at the time. I'm certain this memory is real because nobody has ever talked about this; it's not really a notable event for anyone else involved. I also remember getting transported to Great Ormond Street in the night. I remember going in the back of a strange car (taxi? Hospital transport?) with a tartan blanket. I also remember being given a suppository, something that I didn't believe was actually real until about 20 years later (people don't really talk about them). But I can't remember at all whether my siblings were there or not. I'm 2-3 years older than my brothers but in my memory they were just always there.

Carrok 2y ago
> it's not really a notable event for anyone else involved. I’m sorry but, what? You think your extended family visiting a child in a hospital due to illness was not a notable event for them? > They were all worried. As a parent I can assure you it was a notable event, or no one would have been there, and they would not have been worried.
- globular-toast 2y ago
  Erm... OK, but I've actually, you know, talked to my parents about this during the decades since. Nobody remembers this particular event because it was one night out of weeks of things getting bad, then worse, before finally getting better. This was almost certainly not the only time the grandparents visited, but it's the only one I remember. Adults' memories don't just play out like a recording either. They remember many other details that wouldn't have been shared with me even if I could have understood it.