Long-term Retention of Infant Memories

This special issue of Memory brings together some of the most exciting new research on infant memory. Using innovative research designs, the five studies presented here are addressing questions of central importance to understanding the development of human memory. In particular, the studies seek to discover whether, and if so under what conditions, memories of events experienced during infancy are retained over the preschool years. Research questions include how long retention of early memories may persist, what form these memories may take, the role of language and language development, and the role of intervening experience in the retention of early memories. The results provide provocative evidence that experiences occurring even during the first year of life may be retained in some form for at least several years. However, much of this memory is expressed more as familiarity than as explicit recall. The researchers and commentator present different theoretical views about what these results mean and the conclusions we may or may not be able to draw. Although many questions remain unanswered, the researchers contributing to this volume are on the edge of making important new discoveries about human memory and its development.