Çocukluk Çağı Amnezisi: Hatırlanan İlk Çocukluk Anısı Yaşı ile İlişkili Faktörler

Yıl 2018, Cilt: 38 Sayı: 2, 155 - 170, 28.12.2018

Elif Yıldırım Ezgi Soncu Büyükişcan Merve Çolak Sümeyye Akpınar Busenur Altan

Öz

Çocukluk amnezisi, gelişimin erken evrelerinde üretilen otobiyografik anıların yetişkinlik döneminde tam olarak hatırlanamaması olarak tanımlanan bir durumdur. Genel olarak hatırlanan ilk anıların ortalama 3- 4 yaşa ait olduğu kabul edilse de, ilk çocukluk anısının ait olduğu yaş tartışmalıdır. Bu çalışmada genç yetişkinlerde hatırlanan ilk çocukluk anısına ait yaşın belirlenmesi ve cinsiyet, anıya ilişkin faktörler, bağlanma stilleri ve çocukluk çağı travmatik olaylarının anı yaşı üzerindeki etkisinin incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmaya 137 üniversite öğrencisi katılmıştır. Katılımcılardan hatırladıkları ilk anıyı yazmaları ve anının yaşı ile sıradanlık düzeyi, netliği, emosyonel yoğunluğu, bütünlüğü gibi anı özelliklerini değerlendiren anketi doldurmaları istenmiştir. Buna ek olarak katılımcıların erken travmatik deneyimleri ve bağlanma stilleri de değerlendirilmiştir. Katılımcıların hatırladıkları ilk çocukluk anısına ait yaşın 24 ve 95 ay arasında değiştiği ve ortalamanın 52.44 (SS = 16.77) ay olduğu bulunmuştur. Kadın katılımcılarda ilk anı yaşının erkek katılımcılara kıyasla anlamlı düzeyde daha düşük olduğu saptanmıştır. Cinsiyete ek olarak, çocukluk çağında yaşanan ebeveynler arasındaki ilişkiye dair travmatik olayların varlığı ilk anı yaşı ile ilişkili bir diğer faktör olarak ön plana çıkmıştır. Çocukluk çağı amnezisi otobiyografik belleğin ortaya çıkışının bir işareti olarak düşünülmektedir. Bulgular cinsiyet gibi bireysel özelliklere ek olarak erken çocukluk çağı deneyimlerinin çocukluk çağı amnezisi ile ilişkili olduğunu öne sürmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Bellek, çocukluk çağı, amnezi

Childhood Amnesia: Factors Related to the Age of First Childhood Memory

Öz

Childhood amnesia is a state which is characterized by an inability to fully remember autobiographical memories formed in the early stages of development. Although it is generally accepted that the earliest memories belong to the ages of 3 or 4, the exact age to which the first childhood memory belongs is still debatable. This study aims to identify the age of a first childhood memory, and to investigate the effects of gender, factors related to that memory, attachment style and childhood traumatic experiences on the age of first memory. A total of 137 university students participated in the study. Participants were asked to write down their first memory and fill out a survey that asked for the age and features of the memory such as the level of ordinariness, clarity, emotional intensity, and integrity. In addition, participants’ early traumatic experiences and attachment styles were assessed. The results indicated that the age to which first memory belongs ranges between 24 and 95 months, with a mean of 52.44 (SD = 16.77) months. The age of the earliest memory was significantly younger for women compared to men. In addition to gender, early traumatic experiences related to parents’ relationships emerged as another significant predictor of the age of the earliest memory. Childhood amnesia is perceived as an indicator of the development of autobiographical memory. Our findings suggest that in addition to personal characteristics such as gender, childhood amnesia is also related to early childhood experiences.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Memory, childhood, amnesia

Kaynakça

• Akers, K. G., Martinez-Canabal, A., Restivo, L., Yiu, A. P., De Cristofaro, A., Hsiang, H. L. ... Frankland P. W. (2014). Hippocampal neurogenesis regulates forgetting during adulthood and infancy. Science, 344(6184), 598–602.
• Bauer, P. J. (2007). Remembering the times of our lives: Memory in Infancy and beyond. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Bauer, P. J. (2015). A complementary processes account of the development of childhood amnesia and a personal Past. Psychological Review, 122(2), 204–231.
• Bruce, D., Wilcox-O’Hearn, L. A., Robinson, J. A., Phillips-Grant, K., Francis, L., & Smith, M. C. (2005). Fragment memories mark the end of childhood amnesia. Memory & Cognition, 33(4), 567–576.
• Campbell, B. A., & Campbell, E. H. (1962). Retention and extinction of learned fear in infant and adult rats. Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55(1), 1–8.
• Canbolat, S. (2010). Çocukluk amnezisi ve bağlanma biçimleri. (Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, İstanbul.
• Çeven, Z. İ. (2011). Kültürel faktörlerin çocukluk çağı amnezisi üzerindeki etkisi. (Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Maltepe Üniversitesi, İstanbul.
• Champion, L. A., Goodall, G. M., & Rutter, M. (1995). Behavioral problems in childhood and stressors in early adult life: A 20 year follow-up of London school children. Psychological Medicine, 25, 231–246.
• Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Cowan, C. S. M., Callaghan, B. L., & Richardson, R. (2013). Acute early-life stress results in premature emergence of adult-like fear retention and extinction relapse in infant rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 127, 703–711.
• Davis, J. M., & Rovee-Collier, C. K. (1983). Alleviated forgetting of a learned contingency in 8-week-old infants. Developmental Psychology, 19, 353–365.
• Davis, P. J. (1999) Gender differences in autobiographical memory for childhood emotional experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(3), 498–510.
• Demircan, M. (2012). Anı sahibinin yaşı çocukluk amnezisinin sınırlarını etkiler mi? (Yüksek Lisans Tezi). Maltepe Üniversitesi, İstanbul.
• Dudycha, G. J., & Dudycha, M. M. (1993). Adolescents’ memories of preschool experiences. The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology, 42, 468–480.
• Eacott, M. J., & Crawley, R. A. (1998). The offset of childhood amnesia: Memory for events that occurred before age 3. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 127(1), 22–33.
• Ece, B., Demiray, B., & Gülgöz, S. (2018). Consistency of adults’ earliest memories across two years. Memory, 1, 1–10.
• Fivush, R. (1998). Gendered narratives: Elaboration, structure, and emotion in parent-child reminiscing across the preschool years. In C. P. Thompson, & D. J. Herrmann (Eds), Autobiographical memory: Theoretical and applied perspectives (pp. 79–103). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
• Fraley, R. C., Waller, N. G., & Brennan, K. A. (2000). An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 350–365.
• Freud, S. (1953). Childhood and concealing memories/Infantile sexuality. In A. A. Brill (Ed.), The basic writings of Sigmund Freud (pp. 62–68, 580–585). New York, NY: The Modern Library.
• Glenberg, A. M., & Hayes, J. (2016). Contribution of embodiment to solving the riddle of infantile amnesia. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1–6.
• Hayne, H., & Jack, F. (2011). Childhood amnesia. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Cognitive Science, 2, 136–145.
• Heim, C., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2001). The role of childhood trauma in the neurobiology of mood and anxiety disorders: Preclinical and clinical studies. Biological Psychiatry, 49, 1023–1039.
• Howe, M. L., & Courage, M. L. (1993). On resolving the enigma of infantile amnesia. Psychological Bulletin, 113(2), 305–326.
• Hudson, J. A., Fivush, R., & Kuebli, J. (1992). Scripts and episodes: The development of event memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 6(6), 483–505.
• IBM. (2012). SPSS Statistics for Windows version 21.0. Armonk, NY: Author.
• Jack, F., & Hayne, H. (2007). Eliciting adults’ earliest memories: Does it matter how we ask the question? Memory, 15(6), 647–663.
• Joseph, R. (2003). Emotional trauma and childhood amnesia. Consciousness & Emotion, 4(2), 151–179.
• Josselyn, S. A., & Frankland, P. W. (2012). Infantile amnesia: A neurogenic hypothesis. Learning & Memory, 19, 423–433.
• Kihlstrom, J. F., & Harackiewicz, J. M. (1982). The earliest recollection: A new survey. Journal of Personality, 50(2), 134–148.
• Kingo, O. S., Berntsen, D., & Krøjgaard, P. (2013). Adults’earliest memories as a function of age, gender, and education in a large stratified sample. Psychology and Aging, 28(3), 646–653.
• Knoth, R., Singec, I., Ditter, M., Pantazis, G., Capetian, P., Meyer, R. P. … Kempermann, G. (2010). Murine features of neurogenesis in the human hippocampus across the lifespan from 0 to 100 years. PLoS One, 5, e8809.
• Li, S., Callaghan, B. L., & Richardson, R. (2014). Infantile amnesia: Forgotten but not gone. Learning & Memory, 21(3), 135–139.
• MacDonald, S., Uesiliana, K., & Hayne, H. (2000). Cross-cultural and gender differences in childhood amnesia. Memory, 8(6), 365–376.
• Mikulincer, M., & Orbach, I. (1995). Attachment styles and repressive defensiveness: The accessibility and architecture of affective memories. Journal of Personality and Social Psyhology, 68, 917–925.
• Mullen, M. K. (1994). Earliest recollections of childhood: A demographic analysis. Cognition, 52, 55–79.
• Murty, V. P., Ritchey, M., Adcock, R. A., & Labar, K. S. (2010). FMRI studies of successful emotional memory encoding: A quantitative meta-analysis. Neuropsychologia, 48(12), 3459–3469.
• Nelson, K., & Fivush, R. (2004). The emergence of autobiographical memory: A social cultural developmental theory. Psychological Review, 111(2), 486–511.
• Olson, I. R., & Newcombe, N. S. (2014). Binding together the elements of episodes: Relational memory and the developmental trajectory of the hippocampus. In P. J. Bauer & R. Fivush (Eds.), Handbook on the development of children’s memory (pp. 285– 308). West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Pennebaker, J. W., & Susman, J. R. (1998). Disclosure of traumas and psychosomatic processes. Social Science Medicine, 26(3), 327–332.
• Perner, J., & Ruffman, T. (1995). Episodic memory and autonoetic consciousness: Developmental evidence and a theory of child amnesia. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 59(3), 516–548.
• Peterson, C., Grant, V. V., & Boland, L. D. (2005). Childhood amnesia in children and adolescents: Their earliest memories. Memory, 13(6), 622–637.
• Peterson, C., Warren, K., Nguyen, D. T., & Noel, M. (2010). Infantile amnesia and gender: Does the way we measure it matter? Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 1767–1771.
• Pillemer, D. B., & White, S. H. (1989). Childhood events recalled by children and adults. In H. W. Reese (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior, Vol. 21 (pp. 297– 340). New York, NY: Academic Press.
• Reese, E., & Fivush, R. (1993). Parental styles of talking about the past. Developmental Psychology, 29, 596–606. 
• Rubin, D. C. (2000). The distribution of early childhood memories. Memory, 8(4), 265–269.
• Rubin, D. C., Schulkind, M. D., & Rahhal, T. A. (1999). A study of gender differences in autobiographical memory: Broken down by age and sex. Journal of Adult Development, 6, 61–71.
• Şahin-Acar, B., Bakir, T., & Kus, E. G. (2017). Intrafamilial similarities and cross-generational differences in the earliest childhood memories of daughters, mothers, and grandmothers. Memory, 25(8), 978–985.
• Selçuk, E., Günaydın, G., Sümer, N. ve Uysal A. (2005). Yetişkin bağlanma boyutları için yeni bir ölçüm: Yakın İlişkilerde Yaşantılar Envanteri-II’ nin Türk örnekleminde psikometrik açıdan değerlendirilmesi. Türk Psikoloji Yazıları, 8, 1–11.
• Siegel, D. J. (1999). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
• Sierra, A., Encinas, J. M., & Maletic-Savatic, M. (2011). Adult human neurogenesis: From microscopy to magnetic resonance imaging. Frontiers of Neuroscience, 5, 1–18.
• Travaglia, A., Bisaz, R., Sweet, E. S., Blitzer, R. D., & Alberini, C. M. (2016). Infantile amnesia reflects a developmental critical period for hippocampal learning. Nature Neuroscience, 19(9), 1225–1233.
• Tustin, K., & Hayne, H. (2010). Defining the boundary: Age-related changes in childhood amnesia. Developmental Psychology, 46(5), 1049–1061.
• Usher, J. A., & Neisser, U. (1993). Childhood amnesia and the beginnings of memory for four early life events. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122(2), 155–165.
• Wang, Q. (2001). Culture effects on adults’ earliest childhood recollection and self-description: Implications for the relation between memory and the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 220–233.
• Wang, Q., Conway, M. A., & Hou, Y. (2004). Infantile amnesia: A cross-cultural investigation. Cognitive Sciences, 1, 123–135.
• West, T. A., & Bauer, P. J. (1999). Assumptions of infantile amnesia: Are there differences between early and later memories? Memory, 7, 257–278.
• Willoughby, K. A., Desrocher, M., Levine, B., & Rovet, J. F. (2012). Episodic and semantic autobiographical memory and everyday memory during late childhood and early adolescence. Frontiers Psychology, 28(3), 1–15.