Bruce Darryl, Wilcox-O'Hearn L Amber, Robinson John A, Phillips-Grant Kimberly, Francis Lori, Smith Marilyn C
Department of Psychology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Mem Cognit. 2005 Jun;33(4):567-76. doi: 10.3758/bf03195324.
Adults described and dated two kinds of first remembrances: a personal event memory (the recollection of a personal episode that had occurred at some time in some place) and a memory fragment (an isolated memory moment having no event context and remembered, perhaps, as an image, a behavior, or an emotion). First fragment memories were judged to have originated substantially earlier in life than first event memories--approximately 3 1/3 years of age for first fragment memories versus roughly 4 years of age for first event memories. We conclude that the end of childhood amnesia is marked not by our earliest episodic memories, but by the earliest remembered fragments of childhood experiences.
