Infantile Amnesia can be Operationalized as a Psychological Meta Norm in the Development of Memory.

Abstract

This paper offers a syncretic synthesis of the highlights of the scientific knowledge accumulated to date on the mechanisms of infantile amnesia (IA). IA can be conceptualized as a meta-norm of memory development. The review shows that the neurobiological and neuropsychological evidence for IA converges within a common metacognitive framework of inquiry. The involvement of consciousness in the conditioning of memory traces and the association between infantile knowledge and implicit memory allow IA to be analyzed as a phenomenon with complex, universal neuropsychic regulation of a higher order. This approach overcomes the paradox of understanding IA.