Infantile amnesia: A cross-cultural investigation

Abstract

Chinese, British, and Caucasian American participants were asked to recall as many childhood memories (of events occurring below the age of 5 years), including their earliest memory, as they could in a five-minute period. Chinese participants recalled fewer memories and had earliest memory 6 months later than either of the Western groups. Women provided more memories than men. The cultural differences in the period of childhood amnesia are explained in terms of cultural self-construals and related cultural narrative practices. It is proposed that cultures with an autonomous self-construal which prioritizes elaborative memory talk have earlier childhood memories and shorter periods of infantile amnesia than cultures with a relational self-construal.

Full text

INFANTILE AMNESIA:
A CROSS-CULTURAL INVESTIGATION
Qi Wang*
Cornell University, U.S.A.
Martin A. Conway
University of Durham, England
Yu-bo Hou
Peking University, China
ABSTRACT
Chinese, British, and Caucasian American participants were asked to recall
as many childhood memories (of events occurring below the age of 5 years),
including their earliest memory, as they could in a five-minute period.
Chinese participants recalled fewer memories and had earliest memory 6
months later than either of the Western groups. Women provided more
memories than men. The cultural differences in the period of childhood
amnesia are explained in terms of cultural self-construals and related cultural
narrative practices. It is proposed that cultures with an autonomous self-
construal which prioritizes elaborative memory talk have earlier childhood
memories and shorter periods of infantile amnesia than cultures with a
relational self-construal.
Keywords: culture, infantile amnesia, memory, self
Adults are unable to access many autobiographical memories from the earliest
years of life. This phenomenon was first referred to by Freud (1905/1949) as
* Please address correspondence to Qi Wang, Department of Human Development, Cornell
University, MVR Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853. Tel: (607) 255-9376. E-mail: qw23@cornell.edu.

Qi Wang, Martin A. Conway and Yu-bo Hou122
Infantile amnesia, which "turns everyone's childhood into something like a
prehistoric epoch" (p. 54). Studies with Western samples have empirically
demonstrated this phenomenon, showing that most adults cannot remember events
that occurred before 2 to 3 years of age, forget at an accelerated rate experiences
occurring before age 5 (Wetzler & Sweeney, 1986), and yet recall memories from
age 5 onward with sharply increasing accessibility and elaboration (for review see
Conway, 1990, and Pillemer & White, 1989, and see Rubin, 2000, for recent
findings). In spite of the empirical evidence, there is no generally agreed
explanation. Instead, currently there are many conjectures and theories which
variously emphasize social/cultural/linguistic factors (e.g. Fivush & Hamond,
1990; Nelson, 1996; Pillemer, 1998; Reese, 2002; Wang et al., 1998),
self/cognitive factors (e.g. Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Howe & Courage,
1997; Usher & Neisser, 1993; Waldfogel, 1948), and neurobiological changes
(e.g. Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000; Newcombe, et al., 2000).
It seems unlikely, however, that any single account will provide a full
explanation of infantile amnesia because so many interrelated changes in
development take place during the first five years of life. Thus, the factors
featured in all the above proposals may collectively contribute towards lowering
the accessibility of memories from this period. Although the nature and timing of
these factors in determining the period of childhood amnesia is yet clear, there
are, nonetheless, certain landmarks. Howe and Courage (1997) propose that the
development of a ‘cognitive’ self, structured around the distinction between “I”
and “Me”, during the period of 2 to 3 years of age is critical in providing an
organizational structure within which memories can be represented. This does not
mean that memories are not encoded before this period (see Bauer, 2002, for
review of infant memory) but rather that they can now be organized in a way that
makes them more accessible to retrieval. However, the age 2 to 3 also sees the
emergence of language as a fully developing system and this too may have a
profound effect on the accessibility of memories by rendering them verbally
accessible (Nelson, 1996). Moreover, the emergence of language ushers in a
whole new range of linguistic interactions with others and this too may impact on
the way in which memories are represented and later accessed. In particular, the
frequency and nature of rehearsal of memories with a parent may have important
consequences for the later accessibility of memories (Bauer, 2002; Fivush &
Hamond, 1990). There may well, of course, also be complex interactions between
the developing self, emerging language abilities, and verbally dominated social
interactions (e.g., Reese, 2002). All of these may also be influenced by cultural
practices which act to facilitate or attenuate the rate of memory development
(Wang, 2003).

Infantile Amnesia: A Cross-Cultural Investigation 123
A cross-cultural approach provides a unique means to investigate the
collective effect of these variables on infantile amnesia. Indeed research has
already established that when asked to recall their earliest childhood memory,
Asians, including native Koreans and Chinese and overseas Asians, report events
dating from more than 6 months later than do Europeans and Caucasian
Americans, who remember earliest events occurring, on average, at age 3.5
(MacDonald et al., 2000; Mullen, 1994; Wang, 2001). The cultural variation in
the age of earliest memory is thought to stem from different cultural conceptions
of selfhood (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Mullen, 1994; Pillemer, 1998; Wang,
2001, 2003). An autonomous self-construal that focuses on the individual as a
centrally important agent authoring life experiences, like that in many Western
cultures, may drive the early emergence of an organized, articulated, durable
memory system for events that happened to "me". In contrast, a relational self-
construal that focuses on community rather than agency may de-emphasize
individuality and promote social integration and dependence. Under such
influences the development of a structured autobiographical memory system
would not be prioritized and this might lead to a longer period of childhood
amnesia.
The nature of the self, its focus (agentic versus communal), and concomitant
development may then influence the age of first memories typically accessible in
a culture. The aim of the present research is to determine whether these factors
have a more widespread influence on a range of earliest memories, rather than just
on the first memory. Thus, we used an exhaustive-search method in which
participants recalled as many childhood memories as they could within a limited
timeframe. This might be thought of as a type of ‘autobiographical memory
fluency’ test in which the total number of memories is a measure of fluency of
access to, in the present case, childhood memories. This method allows us to
examine the earliest age of recall (thus replicating previous cross-cultural studies)
and assess adults' ability to access memories from the period of infantile amnesia
more generally. Also, compared with the method of recalling only one memory by
each participant in previous studies on the earliest memory, listing all memories
may help to trigger very early memories and so raise accessibility.
We chose to focus on three culture groups who differ in the degree that they
value individuality and an autonomous self: U.S., England, and China. American
culture puts a prime value on personal autonomy and self sufficiency, qualities
that are also emphasized but less strongly so in British culture and the least in
Chinese culture that promotes interdependence and a relational self (Hofstede,
1980; Hus, 1970). Based on the theorization of cultural self-construal and
autobiographical remembering, we predicted that the Chinese group would show

Qi Wang, Martin A. Conway and Yu-bo Hou124
less accessibility to childhood events and report later-dated earliest memory than
either of the Western groups, particular the U.S. group. In addition, we examined
gender effects on the recall of childhood events. We expected that, in support of
previous findings (Davis, 1999; Mullen, 1994; Thorne, 1995; Wang, 2001),
women would recall a greater number of childhood memories than men.
METHOD
Participants
The sample consisted of 302 participants, 101 from the U.S. (all Caucasian,
76 females, 25 males), 104 from England (87 females, 17 males), and 97 from
China (47 females, 50 males).4 All were college students. They took part in the
study for partial course credit.
Procedure
The study was conducted in participants' native languages. Participants met
with an experimenter in small groups and each received an instruction sheet
describing the task. They were asked to recall childhood memories of events that
occurred when they were under 5 years of age (including 5). They were told that
they must recall as many memories as they could in a 5-minute period, and write
on a provided sheet a word or short phrase whenever a memory was formed in
order to remind themselves later of which memory they had brought to mind. The
instruction emphasized that participants should respond quickly with the first
memory that came to mind and not reject memories. Participants were told that
later they would go back and rate each memory on several dimensions. When they
were ready to begin, the experimenter started the timer.
After the time was up, participants received rating sheets (one for each
memory) and a written rating instruction. On each rating sheet, participants first
dated the memory, putting down how old they were to the nearest month when the
recalled event occurred. They then used 5-point scales to rate the following: 1)
how often they had thought and/or talked about the memory before; 2) how
personally important the recalled experience was to them; 3) how detailed and
clear the memory was; 4) how emotionally intense the experience was; 5) how
4 We originally included a sample of Russian participants. We dropped it because the sample
size was too small to warrant analysis.

Infantile Amnesia: A Cross-Cultural Investigation 125
negative or positive the experience was (from 1"very negative" to 5 "very
positive"); and 6) the source of the memory (from 1 "only know about it from
others" to 5 "remember it completely on your own").5 Finally, participants
provided demographic information.
RESULTS
The entire sample generated a total of 2805 memories, of which 2695 were
dated. The 110 memories (US 27, England 34, China 49) with no age estimates
were excluded from analysis pertinent to retrieval curve.
Retrieval Curve
A core result of interest is the retrieval curve from the first five years of life.
Figure 1 illustrates the mean number of memories plotted in one year time bins for
each culture group. All groups showed similar linear trends indicating age-related
increase in memory accessibility. Trend analyses revealed that the linear fit r-
square was U.S. r2 = .86, England r2 = .88, and China r2 = .87. The retrieval curve
of the entire data set also showed a linear fit with r2 = .87. We performed a mixed
model analysis on the number of memories reported, with culture, gender, and
memory age being fixed factors and subject being a random factor. Significant
main effects of culture and age emerged, F (2, 287) = 47.20, p < .0001, F (4,
1156) = 147.59, p < .0001, respectively, qualified by a Culture x Age interaction,
F (8, 1156) = 21.52, p < .0001. As illustrated in Figure 1, although all culture
groups recalled more memory events that occurred in the later years of the
infantile amnesia period, the rate of increase in reported memories varied across
cultures. Further focused analyses contrasting each pair of cultures revealed
significant differences, U.S.-China F (1, 189) = 92.55, p < .0001, England-China,
F (1, 189) = 33.84, p < .0001, and U.S.-England F (1, 196) = 11.52, p = .0008. On
average, U.S. participants (M = 12.24, SD = 5.47) recalled the greatest number of
childhood memories, followed by participants from England (M = 9.83, SD =
4.45), and lastly China (M = 5.68, SD = 1.68). In addition, a significant gender
effect emerged, F (1, 287) = 8.87, p = .003, whereby women (M = 10.20, SD =
5.12) in all cultures recalled more childhood memories than did men (M = 7.25,
SD = 3.97) across the 5-year period.
5 Participants also did other ratings and completed an attachment questionnaire at the end.
Relevant results address separate research questions and are discussed elsewhere.

Qi Wang, Martin A. Conway and Yu-bo Hou126
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
12 24 36 48 60
Age (mont
h
All
US
Engla
n
China
Figure 1. Memory retrieval curves as a function of culture and age of the memory.
1
2
3
4
5
12 24 36 48 60
Age (months)
Rehearsal
Importance
Vividness
Intensity
Valence
Source
Figure 2. Memory ratings as a function of age of the memory.

Infantile Amnesia: A Cross-Cultural Investigation 127
Age at Earliest Memory
In most earliest-memory studies, participants are instructed to report what
they remember for themselves and not to include ‘memories’ they only knew from
external sources. Because the present study aimed to promote rapid free recall of
memories no constraints were placed on the types of memories that could be
brought to mind. Inevitably then our sample of first memories included "only-
know-it-from-others" (OKIFO) memories (Ulric Neisser, personal
communication, 2003). To control for this we took a rating of source of memory
(other versus self) and so were able to partial out OKIFO memories (US 12,
England 15, China 33). The average age at first memory, with OKIFO memories
excluded, was U.S. M = 32.37 (SD = 9.32), England M = 31.00 (SD = 7.34), and
China M = 37.60 (SD = 12.01). A 3 x 2 (Culture x Gender) ANOVA showed a
main effect of culture, F (2, 281) = 8.15, p = .0004, in which the Chinese group
drew their first memories from a reliably later age than did either of the Western
groups who, in turn, did not differ, Tukey-Kramer HSD, p < .05 (note that the
same pattern was present when OKIFO memories were included).
Memory Ratings
Although various characteristics of the memories were assessed by the ratings
a problem with these data related to the fact that different participants recalled
different numbers of memories. Thus, making comparisons between means is
problematic because different participants contributed different numbers of ratings
to the mean ratings. Instead of detailed analyses, i.e. by culture and gender, we
report only the overall means to provide some perspective on the characteristics of
memories recalled.
Overall means were: Rehearsal 2.95 (SD = 0.91), Importance 2.94 (SD =
0.97), Vividness 3.19 (SD = 1.02), Emotional Intensity 3.09 (SD = 0.93), Valence
3.37 (SD = 0.85), and Source of the memory 3.91 (SD = 0.99). The childhood
memories were then ones that had received moderate amount of rehearsal. They
were of moderate personal importance and slightly above average vividness.
These events were of moderate emotional intensity and were mildly positive in
nature. Finally, the source of the memories was predominantly the rememberer
rather than an outside agency, i.e. the memories were, largely just that: memories.
Simple regressions using memory age as a predictor for the ratings (with subject
being a random factor) showed that with age, memories became more vivid, F (1,

Qi Wang, Martin A. Conway and Yu-bo Hou128
719) = 50.16, p < .0001, more emotionally intense, F (1, 719) = 4.56, p = .03, and
more remembered on one's own, F (1, 719) = 62.56, p < .0001.
DISCUSSION
The present study is to our knowledge the first cross-cultural investigation of
memory accessibility for the period of infantile amnesia. All culture groups found
it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to retrieve memory information from the
first 2 to 3 years of life. They also all showed increasing ability to recall events
occurring in the later part of the 5-year period. However, U.S. participants
recalled the greatest number of childhood memories and showed the greatest age-
linked increase in memory accessibility, followed by British participants, and then
Chinese. In addition, consistent with previous findings (MacDonald et al., 2000;
Mullen, 1994; Wang, 2001), Chinese participants' earliest childhood memories
were approximately 6 months later than their Western counterparts. Thus, the
period of infantile amnesia differs in extent across cultures, with Chinese showing
the longest period and Caucasian Americans the shortest and the British group
falling in between.
If we assume that cognitive development has universal aspects that are
common to all three cultures, the differences we have observed must largely be
due to cultural influences. Thus, for instance, a cognitive self (Howe & Courage,
1997) emerges, as indicated by mirror self-recognition, around 18 to 24 months in
children across different cultures (Kagan, 1989; Priel & de Schonen, 1986) and
develops in the same manner with further cognitive progress (Harter, 1998). The
same is almost certainly the case for language comprehension and production
(Brown, 1973). And, perhaps, it might also be reasonably assumed that the
development of the neurological substrate that mediates autobiographical
remembering (cf. Conway et al., 2002), especially the frontal lobes, has a
common largely genetically determined time course.
In addition to the universal development of cognitive/linguistic/
neurobiological processes that mediate the formation, retention, and retrieval of
childhood memories are cultural influences that determine the extent and way in
which these processes are deployed. Developmental studies provide converging
evidence that the formation of the self entails constructive processes embedded in
a myriad of daily exchanges between children and socialization agents from early
in life (Haight, 1999; Miller et al.,1997; Mullen & Yi, 1995; Shweder et al., 1998;
Wang et al., 2000). Children then develop a self-construal that integrates the
framework of their respective cultures (Wang, in press), which further influences

Infantile Amnesia: A Cross-Cultural Investigation 129
cognitive processes by channeling or directing these processes in specific ways.
An autonomous self-construal may prioritize the early formation of a unique,
detailed and articulate personal history, resulting in earlier first memories and
more childhood memories generally. In contrast, a relational self-construal may
prioritize instead the retention of knowledge, not necessarily in the form of
autobiographical memories, that is related to experiences with predominately
interpersonal themes (cf., Cohen & Gunz, 2002; Mullen, 1994; Schrauf, 2000;
Wang, 2001).
A factor that seems intertwined with the influence of cultural self-construal is
the narrative practices employed by parents in different cultures. Elaborative
memory conversations are found to have facilitative effects on the development of
autobiographical memory in children (e.g., Fivush & Hamond, 1990; Nelson,
1996). Mirroring the respective cultural emphasis on autonomy versus
relatedness, U.S. parents often initiate lengthy, elaborate memory conversations
that focus on the child's roles, feelings, and predilections, whereas Chinese
parents tend to discuss the past with less elaboration and emphasize social rules
and discipline (Wang et al., 2000). There is also evidence that U.S. parents focus
more on the child's personal rights and feelings during narrative interactions than
British parents (Dunn & Brown, 1991). It is possible then that the cultural practice
of elaborate, child-centered memory talk played a role in facilitating access to
more and earlier childhood memories in our U.S. group relative to the Chinese
and British groups. This account could also explain gender effect. There is
evidence that parents often have more elaborate memory conversations with their
daughters than with their sons (e.g., Fivush, 1998). Such narrative practices, if
widespread, might account for at least part of the advantage that women showed
over men in the present study in the greater number of childhood memories they
were able to rapidly access. Our findings of gender differences are consistent with
past work and support the notion that gender-differentiated socialization affects
the accessibility of autobiographical memories (Davis, 1999; Thorne, 1995;
Wang, 2001).
Notably, there may be many other sociocultural factors that contribute to
individual and cultural variations in the accessibility of childhood memories (see
Wang, 2003, for a review). For example, Western cultures, especially in the U.S.,
value adventures, changes and independent exploration (Hsu, 1970), which may
create abundant memorable events for individuals to dwell upon. In contrast,
Chinese culture emphasizes constancy, predictability and behavioral inhibition,
which may render a life with few stories. Obviously, more empirical cross-
cultural research is called for.

Qi Wang, Martin A. Conway and Yu-bo Hou130
In conclusion, the pattern of findings in the present study demonstrated
reliable and strong cultural differences in the amount of childhood memories that
could be rapidly accessed and in the age of the earliest memory. These differences
may have arisen through the operation of two interrelated factors. First, the self-
construal prevalent in a culture acts to direct cognitive processes in the
acquisition, retention, and retrieval of memory. Having an autonomous versus a
relational self may affect whether and to what extent cognitive processes and
resources are channeled into the early development of an articulate, detailed
personal history. Second, culture-specific narrative practices may shape memory
development in ways that support the predominant self-construal. Elaborative,
child-centered memory talk acts to promote autobiographical remembering in
independently-oriented cultures where the development of autobiographical
memory is prioritized. Memory in these cultures serves to differentiate the self
from others and so provides an important means of constructing a unique
individual identity, even at early ages.
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AUTHOR NOTE
Qi Wang was supported by Cornell University Hatch Award. Martin A.
Conway was supported by a grant from the Economic and Social Research
Council, Changes in Autobiographical Memory During Adolescence,
R000239395. The authors thank both bodies for their support. This work is part of
a larger project jointly conducted by the two authors into cultural differences in
autobiographical memory.
We thank Ulric Neisser, Nora Newcombe, and Peter Gordon for helpful
comments on earlier versions of this article. We also thank Abie Li, Melissa
McDermott, Erin Spillane, and Christine Tang for their assistance. Special thanks
go to the participants who made this study possible.