Usher J A, Neisser U
Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 1993 Jun;122(2):155-65. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.122.2.155.
Childhood amnesia was examined in a between-groups study of adults' memories of 4 datable target events--the birth of a younger sibling, a hospitalization, the death of a family member, and making a family move. College students (N = 222) answered questions about events that had occurred when they were 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 years old and also about external information sources, such as family stories. Results show that the offset of childhood amnesia (earliest age of recall) is age 2 for hospitalization and sibling birth and 3 for death and move. Thus, some memories are available from earlier in childhood than previous research has suggested. Subjects' mothers judged most of their children's memories as accurate. External information sources were negatively related to recall from the earlier ages (2-3) but positively to recall from later ages (4-5). These results are compatible with a multiple-determinants account of childhood amnesia.
在一项关于成年人对4个可确定日期的目标事件（弟弟妹妹出生、住院、家庭成员死亡和搬家）记忆的组间研究中，对童年失忆症进行了考察。大学生（N = 222）回答了关于他们1、2、3、4或5岁时发生的事件以及外部信息来源（如家庭故事）的问题。结果表明，童年失忆症的结束点（最早回忆年龄）对于住院和弟弟妹妹出生是2岁，对于死亡和搬家是3岁。因此，有些记忆可追溯到比先前研究表明的更早的童年时期。受试者的母亲认为他们孩子的大部分记忆是准确的。外部信息来源与早期（2 - 3岁）回忆呈负相关，但与后期（4 - 5岁）回忆呈正相关。这些结果与童年失忆症的多因素解释相符。
