Research challenges the idea that early memories are lost without consequence

New insights suggest that despite the lack of autobiographical memory in early years, infants absorb vital patterns of safety and attachment that shape future relationships, prompting a rethink of how early experiences influence growth.

Most adults cannot retrieve clear, continuous memories from the first years of life, a gap psychologists call infantile amnesia. Yet researchers say that does not mean those early experiences are lost without consequence. Even without a narrative memory of being held, soothed or spoken to, infants appear to absorb patterns of safety, attention and attachment that can influence later development and relationships.

That is the argument advanced by Dana Suskind, a professor of surgery and paediatrics at the University of Chicago, in a conversation with Vox’s Noam Hassenfeld. Suskind said her move from cochlear implant surgery into child development came after she noticed that children who appeared similarly supported and received the same medical intervention could go on to very different language and social outcomes. She now argues that the first years of life are a period when the brain is being built at extraordinary speed, with daily interactions helping to shape what she calls the child’s social brain.

Research cited by Yale News in 2021 suggests the hippocampus, the brain region closely tied to memory, is active much earlier than once thought. In that study, infants as young as three months showed signs of recognising images they had seen before, implying that some form of memory formation is already under way during the period when later autobiographical recall is still largely absent. Other research has pointed to the slow maturation of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex as one reason early memories are fragile or never become lasting, easily retrievable episodes.

That helps explain why parents are often told that the point is not to produce perfect memories, but to build reliable relationships. Suskind told Vox that missteps and repair matter because children learn what to expect from other people through repeated experiences of being comforted, disappointed and then reassured. She also urged parents not to strip away all friction from family life, arguing that struggle and recovery can be important for learning as well as attachment. Her advice was simple: talk, respond and treat even very young children as conversational partners. And yes, she said, it is still worth having the birthday party, even if the child will not remember every detail later.