Many phsychologistshave tried to explain the early childhood amnesia(memory loss). One developmental theory explains that the brain hippocampus, responsible for forming memories, does not mature until about two years of age.

Thus, memories cannot be stored prior to this development.

      Other child development psychologist argue that the memories are stored. The first years, they believe, have a lasting imprint on personality. Don’t blame the storage of memory but the faulty recall of early memories. Adultsdon’t gain acces to the early childhood memory files since they don’t think the way toddlers do. Trying to search for a childhood memory is much like trying to find a Monobo word in an English index.

     The key to memory, another view proposes, is emotion. Toddlers tend to remember incidents where extreme fear, joy, disappointment, or ohter emotions are aroused. You may not remember learning how to walk, but blowing out the birthday candles is ussually unforgettable.

     One psychologist adds another explanaton. Children form memories about their experience only when they learn to talk. Talking to a child, recounting incidentss and encouraging a child to talk about her first day at school or her favorite animals at the zoo helps a child remeber events.  There seems to be evidence that children whose mothers talk about the day’s activities at bedtime remember more children whose mother’s talk about the day’s activitiesat bedtime remembered more than children whose parents don’t provide this treat.