Have you ever wondered why you can’t remember being a baby? It’s a really interesting question! Let’s explore why this happens and learn some cool facts along the way.
First, let’s talk about someone amazing named Nischal Narayanam. When he was just 11 years old, he set a world record by remembering 225 random objects on a table after looking at them for only 12 minutes! Isn’t that incredible? He practiced a lot to get that good at remembering things, and he believes anyone can improve their memory with practice.
Now, back to our main question: why can’t we remember being babies? You might remember the words to your favorite song or what you had for lunch yesterday, but when it comes to being a baby, it’s like a blank page. Most scientists think that people can’t remember their baby days because our brains weren’t fully developed yet.
Even though babies can’t remember everything, they do remember some things. For example, they can remember faces, names, and how to do simple things like holding a spoon. But when it comes to remembering events or stories, like their first birthday, it’s a different story.
One idea scientists have is that words help us remember stories. When we remember a fun day at the park or a birthday party, we use words to tell those stories in our heads. But babies don’t know many words yet, so it might be hard for them to make those story-type memories.
Here’s something interesting: animals can remember events too, even though they don’t use words like we do. For example, a dog might remember a trip to the vet and not want to go back. This makes scientists wonder if babies can remember stories too, but maybe they just don’t keep those memories for very long.
Our brains are like a backpack that can get crowded with memories. Scientists think our brains decide which memories are important to keep and which ones to forget. For babies, learning to walk, talk, and eat are super important, so their brains might focus on those things instead of remembering their first ice cream cone.
Want to improve your memory like Nischal? You can try memory tricks too! Practice remembering lists of things or use fun games to challenge your brain. With practice, you can get better at remembering things just like Nischal did.
There are so many mysteries in the world, and asking questions is a great way to learn. Keep exploring and stay curious about the world around you!
Memory Matching Game: Create a simple memory matching game using cards. On each card, draw or paste pictures of common objects or animals. Mix them up and place them face down. Take turns flipping two cards at a time to find matching pairs. This activity helps improve memory skills and is a fun way to practice remembering like Nischal!
Story Time with Pictures: Look at a picture book with your family or friends. After reading, try to retell the story using your own words. Discuss how using words helps you remember the story better. Think about how babies might remember things differently since they don’t know many words yet.
Memory Walk: Go for a short walk in your neighborhood or a park. Try to remember as many things as you can see, hear, or smell. When you get back, draw a picture or write a list of all the things you remembered. Talk about how your brain chose which things to remember and why.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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(phone ringing)(gentle chime) – Hi, it’s Doug. This is Nischal Narayanam, who set a world record for remembering things. At 11 years old, Nischal was able to memorize 225 totally random objects on a table, even the order they were in, after only studying them for 12 minutes. Incredible! Someone named Jessica has a question about memory. Let’s give Jessica a call now. (phone ringing)(gentle chime) – Hi, Doug. – Hi, Jessica. – I have a question for you. Why can’t we remember being babies? – Oh, that’s a great question. You can remember the words to your favorite songs. You can probably remember what you had for lunch yesterday. You might even be able to remember some of the lines from a movie you saw last year. But when it comes to being a baby, nothing. Think about it for a second. Can you remember saying your first word, or taking your first step? Can you remember what you did on your first birthday? Now, some of you might think you can, but keep in mind, you’ve probably seen pictures or even watched videos of these things. Most scientists who study the brain and how we remember things think that human beings cannot actually remember when they were babies. For example, on your first birthday, can you really remember on your own some of the different things that you did that day, the sounds, the smells? Most people would probably say no. It seems that almost everyone has trouble remembering the time when they were babies. So, why is that? Before I go on, I’m curious. Why do you think we can’t remember things that happened when we were babies? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss. Okay, you ready? Now, I don’t know how you answered this, but maybe you said that babies are too little, so their brains are still growing, and that makes sense. Babies’ brains aren’t fully grown yet. Maybe your brain has to be fully grown in order to remember things. But wait a second, is it really true that babies are not able to remember anything? I mean, think about this. Whenever a parent or a caregiver leaves the room but comes back, babies can remember their faces and names, and they can remember skills they learn too, like how to hold a bottle or a spoon. And later, they can even remember how to say words they learn, like “cat,” or “toy,” or “mine.” So the idea that babies literally can’t remember anything because their brains aren’t fully grown yet, well, there must be something more going on here because babies clearly do have the ability to remember some things, at least as babies. And when we’re older, we can still remember most of the names and faces and skills that we learned when we were babies. Well, scientists who have studied this have noticed a pattern. It’s true that babies do remember names and faces and skills, no problem, but there’s another kind of memory that it seems like babies can’t remember: memories of things that happened, events, things that we later tell as stories. For example, we can’t remember exactly what happened when we had our first ice cream cone, or accidentally ate a bug, or climbed up on a table and bumped our head. We may have seen pictures or videos of these things happening, and maybe we even heard our parents or grandparents or older siblings tell these stories about when we were little. But each of us ourselves can’t remember the exact smells and sounds and sights from these events. Even though we were there, it’s almost like it never happened. So, why can’t babies remember the story-type memories? Scientists aren’t totally sure, but some of them think it might have something to do with words. Think about it. When we remember something, like a birthday party or a game we play with our friends, it might be that we need words to remember those stories in our heads. And we definitely use words to share those memories with other people. But imagine if you didn’t know any words yet, like a baby, then it would be pretty hard to replay that story in your head and it would be really hard to share those memories with friends. So this is one idea about maybe why most people don’t remember things that happened to them before they were the age of three. Because before that time, they probably didn’t know enough words to make stories in their heads and share those stories. The idea of needing words to make memories makes a lot of sense, but scientists who study memory are still puzzled about something: animals. Animals don’t use words just like human babies who can’t talk yet. And those animals that do seem to know some words when we use them usually don’t know that many. – Sit. Good boy. – [Doug] But scientists who’ve studied the memory of animals like mice and dogs have discovered that many animals can remember events that happened to them even though they don’t know how to say any words at all. Like for example, a dog who can remember a trip to the vet that he didn’t like. So the next time you take him, he doesn’t want to get out of the car. So if animals can remember these story-type memories even though they don’t know how to talk at all, one idea scientists have is that maybe babies can remember the stories that happened to them too, but it’s just that they don’t remember these stories for very long. We do know that our brain doesn’t store every memory we have forever. Every time something happens in our lives, it seems that our brain keeps it for us so we can remember it later, at least for a little while. And each day, it collects more and more memories. But just like a backpack can get too crowded with stuff so that we can’t find things in it anymore, it would seem that our brain can get too crowded with memories. Scientists think that when that happens, our brain somehow has some way of sorting out which memories are important enough to keep and which memories to throw out. For example, your brain might keep the memory about where your classroom is because that’s really important, but it will forget the color of the Popsicle that you ate three months ago because you don’t really need to remember that. Now, think about babies. A baby has a ton of important things to remember, like walking, talking, eating, not falling down, not bumping into things. So many important things to remember. The list goes on and on. So some scientists are starting to think that babies’ brains are so busy remembering these important things that maybe remembering stories like the first time they had ice cream isn’t all that important, so their brain throws those kinds of memories out. Scientists are only beginning to understand why we can’t remember being babies, but they think that not knowing words and only needing to remember important things might have a lot to do with it. That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Jessica, for asking it. This week, we have a special activity. Remember Nischal Narayanam, the memory champion? When Nischal was 11 years old, he memorized 225 random objects and then repeated them back in order. Wow! So, was Nischal just born with an amazing ability to remember things? No, he spent years practicing memory tricks, and he thinks that everyone can get a better memory with the help of the tricks that he uses. In today’s activity, we’ll show you a trick that you can use to memorize all kinds of things, just like Nischal does. So check it out if you have time. Now, we’ll be back with new episodes in August. But in the meantime, here are some older questions from the question jar. You can vote on which one you think we should send out next week. You can choose from: why do we yawn? How do they turn wood into paper? Or why is the ocean salty? So submit your vote when the video is over. I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you soon.
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