A new study rolls back previous findings of the average age of first memories in an entire year, from three and a half years to two and a half years .
This new 21-year study followed a review of existing data. A total of 992 participants were counted, and then the memories of 697 participants were compared with the memories of their parents.
It happened before you remember
Overall, the study shows that children’s first memories are earlier than when they think they happened.
For example, when reviewing a study that interviewed children after two and eight years had passed from their earliest memory, they were able to recall the same memory, yet in subsequent interviews they gave a later age as to when they occurred .
According to the authors:
The more remote a memory is, the telescopic effect makes one see it closer. It turns out that they advance their first memory one year to approximately three and a half years of age. But we discovered that when the child or the adult is remembering events from the age of four, this does not happen.
This type of research, using verified dating, is currently underway both in your lab and elsewhere to further confirm the answer to this much-debated question .