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At what age do children remember what is happening around them
Mommies can rejoice: the sound of their voices is something that children will never forget.
This is stated by Dr. Renee Spencer, Ph.D. and practicing psychologist who works with children at home and in the clinic every day and has collected the following information on the subject.
What we remember until three years old
We still know very little about memory and early brain development, but recent research has led to a number of new discoveries. So, in infants, the so-called declarative, explicit (long-term) memory was discovered – memorizing the mother’s voice. The little ones reacted with emotion. As soon as my mother spoke up, they began to smile and calm down. It is not known when the fetus begins to distinguish the mother’s voice in the uterus, but this is the very first place where his memory begins to absorb information. These difficult nine months of carrying and nursing your baby are actually your first chance to start talking to them. Dr. Spencer also explains the difference between semantic and declarative memory. Babies who cry for their mother to feed them use semantic, unconscious memory to help them survive. Declarative memory is conscious, based on observation and knowledge.
Early development of memory and brain is very important before age five. The brain at this age is so flexible that this is the best time to learn, since it can remember almost everything. The more you chant, the more your children chant. Dr. Spencer recommends a repetition and regimen for children ages 3 to 7. This allows them to categorize things and translate them into long-term memory. The more often you try to remember something, the easier it becomes later to pull it out of memory. Children with whom parents talk are taught early memorization and recall. Sometimes they are able to remember stories after the first or second reading thanks to a mode that includes regular reading before bed. .
At the age of 7-10, when children go to school, the hippocampus (a part of the limbic system of the brain that is involved in the mechanisms of formation of emotions, consolidation of memory (that is, the transition of short-term memory to long-term memory) and the ability to remember occurs rapidly. organize and store information more logically, which is why most people have a lot of memories starting somewhere in the third grade.
Therefore, until the age of three, parents should remember and write down the most interesting things that happen to your child, so that at about 10 years old they will amaze him with how much he could and knew how to do in infancy.
The bad is remembered more clearly than the good.
For example, we remember in every detail the day when we broke our arm, but we will not be able to remember our birthday in the same year, Christmas or family vacation. According to Dr. Spencer, good memories at an early age give way to bad ones. This is because we do not want to remember something pleasant, but something that has hurt us in order to prevent such occurrences in the future.
The importance of taking photos
Parents need to take more pictures of their children. Funny pictures with toothless smiles can give a boost to an adult’s memory and help him see again a day that seems to have been lost forever. Children remember events much better if they see a photograph or other visualization.