ABSTRACT
When adults are asked to report their earliest childhood memories, most can recall nothing about events that occurred prior to their 3rd or 4th birthday. Although the average age of earliest recollection is fairly consistent across studies, at least two individual differences in the age of earliest memory have been reported. First, there is some evidence that the age of earliest memory may vary as a function of an individual’s gender. Although gender differences are not always observed (Kilhlstrom & Harackiewicz, 1982; Rubin, Schulkind, & Rahhal, 1999), when they do occur, women typically report earlier memories than men (Dudycha & Dudycha, 1941; Schachtel, 1947; Waldfogel, 1948). Second, there is some evidence that the age of earliest memory may also vary as a function of an individual’s cultural background. Mullen (1994), for example, found that Caucasian-American adults report earlier memories than Korean-American adults.
