Are childhood memories important?

Childhood memories can be very important. In general, memory plays an important role in how we learn to make sense of the world. We have experiences in which we learn lessons. For example, we may learn that a thing with a back and four legs is off the floor in a chair. From there, we learn to classify other related data like “couch” or “loveseat” or “ottoman.” The way that we organize our pasts and prior experiences depends on memories of those past events. This, in turn, influences how we determine courses of action in the future and form judgments that we use to navigate the world in the present.

People with fond memories of childhood, like good memories of their parents, typically have better overall health, fewer instances of depression, and a reduced likelihood of chronic illnesses as adults. Positive memories in young adults are also associated with better health, including better work and personal relationships, a lower risk of substance use, and depression.

For some people, childhood memory is difficult. This is known as childhood amnesia and is thought to have multiple potential causes. Many childhood memories occur before children have a full vocabulary, which some researchers believe may hinder their ability to preserve memories. The rapid growth of the brain and development of language and vocabulary may have something to do with the ability to recall memories from before and after that point in time.

Early childhood memories are also thought to be filled with potential errors in the recall, which means that they may not be as accurate as they seem. Many researchers believe that our earliest memories are often a patchwork of things we actually recall and bits and pieces of information from relatives and deductions and extrapolations based on other information we possess that may be relevant.

Because researchers understand the importance of the stories we tell ourselves about our lives, as with the Adult Attachment Interview, it’s the sense that we make of our experiences and the narratives we build from them that have the actual impact on our lives. If you want to explore early memory and its importance or meaning, talk with a licensed professional counselor.