We all know that after going to school, the level of children's memory ability affects children's learning efficiency and academic performance to a large extent. Since a child's memory ability is so important, when did the child's memory begin to appear? And how did it develop? What can we do to promote the development of children's memory ability? We have countless questions about children's memory, let's talk about the things about children's memory development.
Memories of the fetal period
Does the fetus have a memory? The answer is yes. So, what memories does the fetus have?
Before we talk about fetal memory, first, let's understand the brain components associated with baby memory:
* Implicit memory, such as habituation and conditioning, is associated with lower brain regions such as the spinal cord and brainstem;
* Partially implicit memory and all extrogenous memory, dependent on the cerebral cortex and hippocampus;
Before birth, the reflex circuits of the fetal spine and brainstem have been perfected, and some basic movement patterns in the womb during the fetal period, such as repeated kicking movement patterns and some sensory feedback, will leave imprints on the depths of the brain nervous system.
In what way does the fetus form memories or store information?
The first is habituation. Studies have shown that when the fetus begins to hear, that is, during the 23-week-29 weeks of the fetus, the fetus just begins to hear a loud noise from somewhere in the mother's stomach, and will vigorously extend its limbs due to panic, but with the recurrence of stimulation, this response will disappear, which can explain why the fetus is accustomed to the mother's heartbeat or other loud noises coming from the stomach, otherwise the fetus should live in panic every day, and how to develop quietly?
Second, it is the classical conditioning. Some researchers have done experiments, that is, to listen to a fixed piece of music to pregnant women, and let pregnant women consciously relax themselves when they hear music.
As the trials went on, the researchers observed that later, as soon as the music was heard, the fetus became more active, relaxed, and more active.
Therefore, after birth, the fetus still responds to the strong stimulation that the fetus has received.
So how long can the fetus's memory be retained after birth? Fetal memories, generally retained in the first few weeks of life, affect their intellectual development and cognitive patterns in the first few months of life.
Memory development at 0-6 months of age
Conditioning and habituation
After the baby is born, it is still possible to learn or store memories through conditional emission and habituation.
Typically, babies associate their mother with breast milk. The baby sucks on breast milk, and after repeating it many times, he starts sucking as soon as he puts him in his mother's arms.
In addition, careful parents should find that if the baby is allowed to operate a certain toy, if he finds that the toy will make a sound and light, he will be very surprised; after repeating many times, the next time every once in a while, and then take out the toy for him to play, he will repeat the same action, so that the toy makes a sound and light.
These are typical manifestations of the storage of memories with conditioning and habituation in early life.
Recognize memories and preferences for new things
If you give a baby a new toy and an old toy at the same time, you will find that the baby is easily attracted to the new toy.
Usually, moms and dads will find that if they take the baby out of the room, he will be happy, or it is easier to quiet down, because they are attracted to the novel environment around them.
Don't underestimate these manifestations, babies' preferences for new things are based on memory. Because babies can only tell what is new if they remember the characteristics of old things.
Re-recognition is a process that relies on the exact same stimulus to reproduce. The older the month, the longer the child's recognitive memory.
Scientific experiments have shown that the strength of early recognition memory ability in infants is related to the future IQ level of children, and at 2-8 months of age, the more babies who prefer novelties, the higher the IQ test score at 2-8 years old.
8-month-old memories appear
Although babies 6 months ago have recognitive memories, they don't yet have the ability to remember things without prompting, which is called "recall."
Until the baby is 8 months old, the neuronal cells of the brain hippocampus are further developed, and the activities of the frontal lobe related to short-term memory and long-term intentional memory begin to really appear, and they can begin to recall events in the past clearly.
Recall is different from re-recognition, which requires repeating the previous stimulus or situation, such as the past things and the same experience, so that the child can feel and recognize the same stimuli that have been received before; while recall does not need to recognize the stimuli of the same conditions required for memory. The emergence of memory is a critical period in the development of memory.
For example, 8-month-old babies, who like to play the game of "finding hidden toys", have the performance of separation anxiety, which is a typical manifestation of children's ability to recall.
From the age of 2, verbal memories begin
Generally, children start to talk from the age of 2. From the time children can speak, they can finally verbally say what they can remember, which marks the emergence of "oral recall", which has a key significance in the development of children's memory ability.
Children's verbal recall ability will develop and improve as language ability improves. As their expression and narrative skills get better and better, they can use oral language to say things in their memory in more and more detail and clarity, the logic is getting clearer and the details are getting richer.
Children around the age of 4 have the strategy of classifying and naming memory, and their memory ability has also been greatly improved.
Therefore, careful parents will find that the memory of the same event is more clearly described by 4-6-year-old children than 2-3-year-old children, which is related to the improvement of their narrative ability.
Because compared with 2-3 years old, 4-6 years old are more likely to store the information they see in different categories, such as according to the location, time, cause of events, and so on.
Conscious training to help the baby's memory ability develop
After the child goes to school, the difference in memory ability will gradually appear, some children can read an article several times to memorize, and some children how to read are difficult to memorize fluently, such a difference is obvious.
But fortunately, the difference in individual memory ability, in addition to 40% affected by innate factors, the rest can be strengthened by acquired training, we do not have to be discouraged. A child's memory skills can be improved through deliberate practice.
In the critical period of memory development in the first few years after the birth of the child, parents can help the child improve the memory ability through some skills in daily life. Like what:
In daily life, when chatting with children in daily life, you can consciously guide your children to say what happened in the past.
After taking the child out to play and go home, often guide the child to repeat what he saw and done in the scenic spot, such as people, objects, scenes, etc
After reading with your child, you can guide your child to repeat the contents of the following book.
Conclusion: Understanding the development process of children's memory ability can allow us to reduce anxiety in the process of raising children and help children improve their memory ability in a more targeted manner. Scientific parenting is endless, let's keep working hard to cultivate it.
I am @ AiYang Parenting, a working mother, pay attention to me, we are scientifically raising babies together more relaxed