ELi5 Why we don’t remember our first four years since birth?

Question

ELi5 Why we don’t remember our first four years since birth?

In: 3

Answer 1

Many people *can* have memories from that young, but they’re going to be few and far between because your brain has trouble forming long-term memories at that age.

I have a memory from when I was around 1 year old, but only because it was a particular moment that I kept lingering on combined with my grandmother bringing it up very often in conversations, thus reminding me about the incident. That’s also the *only* memory I can recall from that far back. All of the others begin at around 4-5 years old, since I have quite a few memories from preschool.

Answer 2

Many people *can* have memories from that young, but they’re going to be few and far between because your brain has trouble forming long-term memories at that age.

I have a memory from when I was around 1 year old, but only because it was a particular moment that I kept lingering on combined with my grandmother bringing it up very often in conversations, thus reminding me about the incident. That’s also the *only* memory I can recall from that far back. All of the others begin at around 4-5 years old, since I have quite a few memories from preschool.