Is it true a genius can remember before they were 3 years old?

Question

I have always heard the younger you can rememeber, the more intillegent you are. I rememeber when I was 18 months old at the coast of Washington State in a wrecked shipped and my mother sliding down the deck saying "stay Kimmy honey". She said there was no way I could rememeber. but I do.

I want to make it clear, the ship was not sinking, it had already sunk years before and it lay on the beach on it's side for several years before it was salvage...My mother and I were just exploring it. It is a fond memory.

Answer 1

It's not really related to genius per se, but more about the intensity of the experience (a traumatic event like you describe) coupled with how well your brain physically record events.

(And brains that are good at recording things means a brain that functions well, which would suggest a rise in intelligence. So perhaps that's what you meant.)

The thing is, it is very very rare to recall memories happening before ages 3-4. The brain is developing very rapidly and the nerve system that is developing usually "overwrites" any old stuff as it develops.

By the age of five, the neural network is established and your memories are much more likely to persist. Around this time is when most people claim to have a fairly continuous memory of their lives.

Memories are funny, because people also have the capacity to convince themselves that a non-existent event actually occurred.

Elizabeth Loftus performed an infamous study where she suggested to participants that they had been lost in the mall as children, and 25% of the people involved actually claimed to have remembered it and even developed many specific details about an experience the family verified had never occurred.

And the legal system is well-aware of how unreliable memory can be (from interviewing witnesses to crimes). We tend to want to fill in gaps.

There's the possibility your brain did record a "flash" of that one instant, because it was so traumatic, and that your brain fleshed it out further as you and your mother explored it together.

Anyway, glad you're okay. :)

Answer 2

Memory is a difficult thing to define, even for professionals. It is a purely subjective thing, which means it is different for everyone. The mind also starts to edit and alter memories immediately after they are formed. This is why it is almost impossible to find two people who had experienced the exact same event that will give similar accounts.

It is apparent that traumatic experiences are remembered more vividly than average, everyday ones. It has been theorized that this allows an organism to avoid deadly situations after they go through a similar experience only once.

This is certainly the reason why you remember the sinking ship. You were probably mildly traumatized by the fear and worry you noticed in your mother, and your mind clung to your impressions of the event as a warning in case you came across something similar later in life. It is also certain that the way you remember the event is different from what actually happened because your mind has been editing the memory over all these years.

So far as being a genius is concerned, I also have very early memories. No one has stepped up to claim that I am a genius, however.

James

Answer 3

I think it has to do with emotional inteligence rather then anything else. I remember events that my mom claims happened when I was 6 months old. I vividly remember lying in a crib and my grandfather was singing to me. I even remember singing along with him and being absolutely sure that I sing along with the right words and right tune :-D
But I always had a very good understanding of what things are like as a young child. I was very mature at a young age. My husband on the other hand is a genius. He is great in math and writes complicated code before he eats his breakfast. But I think (hmm.. hmm...) that his emotional inteligence is really low. He doesn't grasp feelings, his memories from his childhood are more like: "My parents and I went to Disney World and it was fun" but he doesn;t remember details or words or feelings.

Answer 4

A few people maybe, if not most. I vividly remember a few instances before I reached 3 years old... which mostly fascinates my mother. But that didn't make me a very intelligent person. The secret is, there's always a significant something to remind me of those memories.

Answer 5

I remember stuff from when i was about 2, i was pretending to be a chicken, and got an egg from the kitchen, lay down a tea towel in case i broke it, and sat on the egg, like i was laying it (stop laughing, i was 2!) it broke, and my mum told me off a bit, and i said "but at least i didn't make the floor dirty!" but i am definately not a genius, so i don't think that statement is true, but maybe that you have good english and speaking skills to be able to put words to something at such a young age. if you get what i mean.
Also, i remember something from about 18 mths-2yrs, vomiting after having weetbix for the first time, and that's put me off cereal for life.

Answer 6

I'm not sure that it has anything to do with intelligence. You may have photographic memory or just really good memory. My sister remembers stuff from when she was a baby, even to the details like the design of the carpet and the layout of the house. It just depends on the person and the memories.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

I can remember an instance of nursing at my mothers breast and most things of my entire life, but generally theres some signicance attached to them, and I don't consider myself of above normal intelligence, much less a genius.

Answer 9

I also remember events from when I was 2, does that make me a genius?