How and at what age does a baby’s memory develop?

There memory of a baby begins to develop in utero, from the first weeks of fetal life. When baby is born, their memory and ability to store memories are usually reduced, but with age, the child will gradually progress and have a long-term memory. At what age does a baby start having memories? How does memory develop in children and how to stimulate it? Elements of answers with Dr. Thomas Cascales, clinical psychologist specialized in perinatality.

Does a baby have a memory?

If babies are not immediately mature in terms of motor skills, “memorization is innate. We are neurobiologically programmed to remember“, explains Dr. Thomas Cascales, who is also the author of the article “Infant memory: evolution of the concept“, The neurological apparatus is therefore mature from birth. Nevertheless, “although pre-wired, infants lack experience. They have not accumulated enough representations to practice their memory”, says the specialist. Moreover, we train it throughout life through our experiments.

At what age does baby start to remember?

According to the conclusions of a study conducted by Jerome Kagan, researcher and professor of psychology at Harvard and his student Conor Liston, and published in the journal The Harvard Gazette in 2002, the babies have the ability to remember people and things very early, between the ages of 8 and 12 months. For the researchers, at this stage, it is the short term memory. Indeed, it is while growing up that a baby’s memory span becomes permanent. “Long-term memory sets in after the age of one year.detail the specialists. Which means that at this age, children are able to firmly register experiences and remember them.

“Long-term memory sets in after the age of one year.”

A baby’s memory develops thanks to two factors: repetition and intensity which is closely related to the emotions of the child.

The repetition of a word, a sound

To acquire new words and create new representations – an image associated with a sound – the baby needs quantitative, that is to say that thethe word is repeated while pointing at it. Images thus accumulate from birth, even in utero in the case of the memorization of sounds, as proven by numerous studies. Then, when he learns to speak, the toddler loves repeat the words he hears.

First, because this repetitive verbalization helps him memorize them, but also because he takes pleasure in seeing the effect produced on his parents: “he wouldn’t repeat them if there weren’t parental expectation and exaltation, and it is this interaction that takes on meaning for the child and facilitates his memorization”, deciphers Thomas Cascales.

The intensity of a memory

Another essential factor : intensity. Thus, a 6-month-old baby who has not seen his grandmother for several weeks can quite remember if their last meeting was intense, emotionally charged. And his memory will last all the more if his parents talk to him about it regularly. Basically, just like adults, children remember more highlights. An infant therefore remembers many things if they have been experienced intensely enough. Of course, he does not yet have the floor to give them back to us.

• To stimulate baby’s memory, you must first give him quality timethat is to say, without TV in the background, or telephone, we are fully with him.
• We also make sure that baby is in a comfortable posture.
• Then we embark on a enjoyable activity : music, reading, peekaboo, nursery rhymes, puppets waving hands, stacking cubes, manipulation of wooden toys, game of shapes to fit into the box, sound objects…
• The more his experiences are lived in an authentic way and linked to a moment of shared pleasure, the more intense and congruent it will be for him, which will help memorize.
• Parents are advised to overplay the way they speak to support satisfaction and raise emotional intensity in children.

Generally, even before knowing how to speak, the child asks for objects by pointing to them so that mom or dad can name them. However, as the psychologist points out, “Satisfying experiences are often intense and therefore more memorable”. However, “some are unpleasant, but striking, and can be quickly integrated by the child”, he ponders. For example, if we offer a food to our baby and he does not like it, he will remember it when he sees it the next day and will immediately sulk.

Thanks to Dr. Thomas Cascales, clinical psychologist specializing in perinatality and author of the article “Infant memory: evolution of the concept“.