(image from here)
This is something I've always asserted but I don't think I've ever actually researched. Or maybe I heard about it once & it just sounded correct so I accepted it. Anyway, it's this:
The reason many of us don't remember our earliest experiences is because, once we learn to read, we use words to tell the stories of the things we remember. So without words we don't remember the times before we learned to read.
My family insisted I learned to read when I was around four but I don't think I have a lot of memories from around that time. Maybe my earliest memory is when I was five & I slept in one Christmas morning (our family celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve so I doubtless stayed up late) & I woke to find all the kids in our apartment complex done playing & ready for lunch. I think I had gotten what I believe were called Big Wheels for Christmas & I rode it miserably around the complex alone, since everyone else was tired from doing that all morning.
One thing I do know is that once I learned to read I liked to read everything. I would read weird lurid thrillers that my brothers liked - from series like The Executioner. I would read bits & pieces of the newspaper but liked the comics page best. & I loved comic books.
So maybe it's just me. Maybe letters took over my life so completely I can't really remember my life without words. Or maybe none of this is remotely true & I've never really explored how memory works at all.
The reason many of us don't remember our earliest experiences is because, once we learn to read, we use words to tell the stories of the things we remember. So without words we don't remember the times before we learned to read.
My family insisted I learned to read when I was around four but I don't think I have a lot of memories from around that time. Maybe my earliest memory is when I was five & I slept in one Christmas morning (our family celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve so I doubtless stayed up late) & I woke to find all the kids in our apartment complex done playing & ready for lunch. I think I had gotten what I believe were called Big Wheels for Christmas & I rode it miserably around the complex alone, since everyone else was tired from doing that all morning.
One thing I do know is that once I learned to read I liked to read everything. I would read weird lurid thrillers that my brothers liked - from series like The Executioner. I would read bits & pieces of the newspaper but liked the comics page best. & I loved comic books.
So maybe it's just me. Maybe letters took over my life so completely I can't really remember my life without words. Or maybe none of this is remotely true & I've never really explored how memory works at all.
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