ABSTRACT
Clearly the mere occurrence of infantile amnesia has a variety of implications not only for descriptive models of development but also for models of learning and memory in the adult organism. If the factors underlying this instance of forgetting can be identified, such a finding should contribute to our understanding of the necessary and sufficient conditions for learning and retention in the mature individual. Based on this assumption research concerning the bases of infantile amnesia has intensified in recent years (Campbell & Coulter, 1976; Campbell & Spear, 1972). Nevertheless the question of why we forget our earliest experiences has remained largely unresolved, despite the fact that numerous hypotheses concerning infantile amnesia have been advanced and tested. The purpose of the present chapter is to suggest a source of forgetting that may well contribute to the poor retention of early events by infrahuman species but which has not as yet been explored extensively. Prior to discussing this possible source of forgetting, however, it is useful as a point of departure to describe briefly some of the
alternative hypotheses concerning the causes of infantile amnesia. A more complete review of hypotheses and data relevant to infantile amnesia In infrahumans is available elsewhere (cf., Campbell & Coulter, 1976).
