ABSTRACT
That immature organisms do not retain learned responses as well as adults has been well established by Campbell and others (for reviews see Campbell & Coulter, 1976; Campbell, Riccio, & Rohrbaugh, 1971; Campbell & Spear, 1972; see also Nagy, Chapter 5). The age-related changes in memory are not limited to infrahuman species or laboratory experiments; the inability of human adults to remember events of the first few years of life (“infantile amnesia”) represents a similar phenomenon (Campbell & Coulter, 1976). This memory deficit in the developing organism is of particular interest from several perspectives. On the one hand the phenomenon poses an intriguing paradox for “early experience” studies: How do events during infancy modify later adult behavior if retention of these early experiences is so limited? On the other hand the relatively rapid forgetting in young animals provides a convenient type of preparation with which to study memory. Thus, determining the events that can eliminate or alleviate infantile amnesia should serve to advance our understanding of the ontogeny of memory and, more generally, add to our understanding of memorial processes.
