Babies can form memories starting at age one

Scientists have made an important discovery about how babies form memories. For the first time, research shows that babies can start to store memories in a brain region called the hippocampus, beginning around the age of one. Despite this finding, researchers are still puzzled about why these early memories are often forgotten. Typically, our earliest memories come to us around the ages of 3½ to 4 years. This gap between forming and recalling memories has intrigued both scientists and the public for a long time. Nick Turk-Browne, a psychology professor at Yale and co-author of the study, highlighted the importance of this research. He explained that understanding how the brain develops and what types of memories are prioritized can provide valuable insights. He noted that it's still not clear what purpose memories of specific events serve for babies and toddlers, which presents an ongoing mystery in the study of memory.