| There has been much theoretical speculation about memory for very early events, but limited empirical examination of the reasons for individual variability in the age of the earliest memory. In this study, 43 children aged 7 to 10 years were interviewed about their earliest memories. High rates of corroboration by parents were obtained for children's memory reports. On average, the earliest memory dated back to 2 years, 10 months of age, although a considerable amount of individual variability was found. Possible reasons for individual variability in the age of earliest memory were explored with a focus on characteristics of the children (e.g., intellectual ability, language development, development of the self) and characteristics of the events they recalled (i.e., affective quality, rehearsal of the event). The factors found to predict age of earliest memory, at least to some extent, were children's current age, age at which self-recognition developed, frequency of talking about the past, and affective quality associated with the event. These findings support the idea that multiple factors predict the age of earliest memory. |
