Amy Jo Reynolds
Sep 9, 2018 · 2 min read

If your grandmother was crouching down reaching out her hands to encourage you to walk to her — when you were four — perhaps that should have tipped you off right then and there. Typically we learn to walk around age one, so if you were four than this memory (in my mind anyway) would make no sense.

After reading this, I questioned why such early memories from study participants were included at all, since it goes on to say that “ it’s scientifically accepted that autobiographical memories are possible only after the age of three.”

Yet, “Scientists asked 6,641 people to describe their first memory, along with their age at the time, and discovered that 2,487 first memories were unlikely to be true because they were captured before the age of two. An astonishing 14 percent said they remembered an event before their first birthday — some even saying they remembered their birth.”

I don’t know who these people are that claim to have such abilities but I believe that by including these participant’s memories in this study at all, automatically skews real results.

And your decision to title this piece, “Your Childhood Memories Are Probably Fake” comes across to me as very misleading and not entirely true.

I fear it places doubt in the readers mind and might make them question their own memories altogether, which is something I believe is of vital importance.

I believe it is incredibly important to examine our stories from the past even if you were a young child at the time. Often especially if you were a young child at the time. Why not as a rule of thumb just say that memories from before the age of three may be unreliable instead of lumping all memories into the same basket by saying your memories are lying to you or by calling them fake.

Respectfully, I believe that these memories are precisely the stories we may need to revisit.

That they may potentially be the key to unlocking a better understanding of your life.

www.relishyourstory.com

    Amy Jo Reynolds

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    Be who you are.