KNOWLEDGE AND JUDGMENTS ABOUT EVENTS THAT OCCURRED PRIOR TO BIRTH - THE MEASUREMENT OF THE PERSISTENCE OF INFORMATION

Data from five laboratories using five different techniques were reana lyzed to measure subjects' knowledge of events that occurred over the past 70 years. Subjects were about 20 years of age, so the measures in cluded events that extended up to 50 years before birth. The functions relating knowledge about the events to age do not decrease precipitou sly at birth but gradually drop to above-chance levels. Techniques usu ally used to study retention within the individual can be used to stud y the persistence of ideas and fashions within an age cohort in a cult ure.