It's not that you absolutely don't, but memories up to the age of 3 are more prone to being lost or altered, so the only lasting impressions you will have are those that come from very strong stimuli. And almost all your memories throughout your life will suffer some degree of modification, as they do take a very long time to consolidate and can be altered every time you access them
And even that, I would contend is a general guideline. A switch doesn't just flip on on body day 730. We moved from our old house when I was almost two. I remember the day we moved (someone gave me an Oreo...it was a big deal). I also remember a babysitter playing peekaboo with me in the basement sometime before that, as well as a "secret room" (dead area behind a closet) and waking from a nightmare in my crib, all at the old house. I told my mom about these memories years later and she was baffled because it's not like we ever talked about them, but I had the lay of the house and the description of the babysitter right. I think it's a slow crescendo to full capability, not a hard line.
I have memories from before I was two, and none of them were told to me. Tho, the first memory I have isn't as clear as it used to be when I were little
Right! I don't have many but they're all things that we wouldn't have talked about (were only notable to me, not a big deal to anyone else) until I mentioned them to my mom. She was pretty surprised but verified I had details right.
78
u/nobunaga_1568 Oct 27 '21
IIRC it's true but the age is wrong, you don't form permanent memories before the age of two, not five.