There has been much recent interest in the phenomenon of childhood amnesia,
the difficulty most adults have in recalling at least the first 3 years of
life. In contrast, it has been shown that infants 18 months of age or less
can retain information over long periods. Although there is no agreed-upon
explanation of this paradoxical phenomenon, there are proposed biological,
cognitive, : and social-cognitive explanations. Distinguishing among these
accounts involves investigating both adults' memories for for childhood ev
ents and the i mnemonic abilities of young children. These studies may not
only reveal the reason why our earliest years are shrouded from us as adult
s, but also shed Light on the memory processes that allow us a rich represe
ntation of the remainder of our personal past.