How far back can you remember?

JH

I remember starting a thread like this many years ago....

No, honetly, I can remember things that happend to me when I was about 3 years old. I was on my tricycle and I got lost, so my mom phoned the cops and they found me. and gave me a lollypop.

Same here, events beginning at about 3 years of age. THere is strange phenomenon known as infantile amnesia, and in humans, most events taking place in the first 3 years of life are permanently erased from the brain. Neuroscientists dont understand it, but it likely has to do with the proliferating neuronal connections during this early stage of neural development.

Leolaia

My first definite memories are from age 3 too. Some are pretty vivid too.

I do have tho some memories of an event that occurred when I was 7 months old. What remember however is not the event itself but a recurring nightmare I had for several years based on what happened to me. So....could a traumatic event before the age of 1 leave an impression on the memory....if it is traumatic enough??

ButtLight

Thats funny, me too, 3 years old. We had to move and leave our dog behind. I remember looking out the back window of the car, and crying cause he was running and barking like he always did. But he didnt know we werent coming back, and the neighbors were going to keep him

blondie

about the age of 2 1/2.

But then there is my previous life.

FlyingHighNow

I remember being a baby too young to walk or to understand words other than my name. I thought with feelings and observations.

Finally-Free

I remember a visit to the doctors office shortly after I was born. I don't recall what he was trying to do - just that it caused a lot of pain. When I later asked my mom about it she verified it. She said it stemmed from a dispute she was having with him. He wanted to circumcise me against her wishes.

I also remember being in a playpen in the kitchen. I grabbed the bars of the playpen and kept rocking it as hard as I could. It slowly inched across the floor until I got within arms reach of the kitchen table. I grabbed the tablecloth and pulled it until all of the breakfast dishes and a big glass jug of milk crashed on the floor. My mom said I was about a year old when I did that. I also remember being sexually abused while I was still in my crib.

W

Mulan

I have clear memories of the summer before I was 3 in September.

I have a vague memory that my mother says was before I was 1 year old. I remember being in a crib or a cradle with mosquito netting over it and being afraid. She says I was not walking yet when that happened, and we were at a relative's home, where the netting was common on the beds.

AK - Jeff

Lots of memories from about 21/2 or 3.

Being stung by a wasp during a nap.
Looking out the window and seeing a little girl blowing the seeds off a dandelion stem
Jumping on the bed with the family friends of about the same ages as us
My first haircut - I remember Mom asking Dad which side she should part it - must have been less than 2
Spinning a wheel on a bike sitting upside down on the porch.

These all happened before we moved at about 3 years old.

Jeff

Frannie Banannie

My knee-jerk reaction was age 3, because I could remember when I was hospitalized for a blood infection at age 3 and making mudpies with my cousin, Frances, also at age 3.....but I got to thinking about it and I realized that I also remember a few earlier incidents.......a pair of baby-blue polished cotton overalls with suspenders that my Aunt Phoebe dressed me in at about age 2 1/2, singing the "Dickie Bird Song" to my mother (about age 2) to get out of taking a nap in my crib and holding on to the side of the wringer washing machine as it swished the clothes, so I could feel the rhythm of the machine and keep time as I danced in my training pants (age 2).....also....I remember my Mom's two Boston Bulls, named "Dammit" and "Oh, Hell" that used to chase me around the yard and pull my training pants down, making me scream and cry (also age 2 1/2)

So I guess it just depends on whether a person has very good or bad memories to draw on.

Frannie