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Thursday, March 23, 2006

Truly Wonderful, The Mind of a Child Is

A short personal note this morning.

Today we purchased Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to watch this evening. My son, three, and I went to see this when it was first released in theaters in mid-November, at his request, just before his third birthday. We only saw it once.

Tonight as we were watching the film we come to the part of the film where the cup participants must face the third, strike that (thanks all), the SECOND challenge which happens at the lake. Before they get started with the task my son keeps saying, "Harry going to get Hermione in the water". Which Harry starts to do.

This surprised both my husband and I that our son remembered this part of the film from only seeing it once, over 4½ months ago.To some of you this may not seem one bit impressive or surprising but how many of us remember our lives before we were three or four? I recall bits and pieces of moments but nothing substantive.

It's true that a child has more focus on things in his little world because the weight of life has not begun to enter the thought processes but I must have assumed their minds move quickly on to the next thing (as often they do), short term memory overriding longer term by a hair.

So nice to be wrong! Neat for me as a parent.

LM

50 comments digested to 1

1 comment:

Nerf-Herders Anonymous said...

Korto Vos3
Korto Vos - Hero for Hire

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 3:50 AM
That was an interesting story. I never really thought about it a kids memory.



amidalooine
The Emotional Galaxy

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 4:16 AM
Very cool story. My youngest has an amazing memory, too, and you're right that the specific things they remember are interesting.

I know for a fact that I remember being three...but that's about it. Images really. Feelings.



sin1732

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 4:41 AM
I can't even remember what happend yesterday, so well done to the kid



luuke.skywalker

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 6:54 AM
When my daughter was 4, she could tell us specific details of the day her brother was born - and she had been 2-1/2 at the time. It really is amazing. Thanks for sharing, Leah.



The Stooge
Star Wars Joke-A-Day

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:05 AM
Very cool -- and inspiring! Kids are stinkin' sponges at that age! (If you ever want your kid to know a second language, teach 'em early. Children have incredible long-term memory, even if they don't show it quite so early.)



Sol Kassar
Ramblings from the Detention Center

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:32 AM
I always remember more significant and memorable moments of my childhood. Something that shocked me or brought me joy and happiness when I was that age - things I won't soon forget.



Jedi Master Mina
Bootylicious Tales of a Jedi Drama Queen

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:42 AM
My earliest memory of my childhood goes back to when I was barely a 2 year old. My family gathered at my Aunt's house for a family portrait. I remember my mother telling me that it was picture time and to make my way to the backyard. The one thing that stands out in my mind was those huge French doors that lead to the backyard. I remember thinking, "wow, those are big". I also remember being picked up by my mother, placed on her lap and told to sit still. To this day my mom is shocked I remember that much detail of the event. That portrait now hangs in my dinning room.



ewanandhaydenfan5
I Have You Now!

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 9:55 AM
I've been so impressed by my daughter's memory, too. She's not quite 5 years old. Last week, we were driving to the store and I pointed out where her birthday party would be held; it was in the opposite direction from which I was driving. She said, "That's where the library used to be". About 1 or 2 years ago, our library was being rebuilt, and it was temporarily housed in a building very close to where her birthday party will be held. We hadn't even been in that area since at least a year ago, and she remembered! My husband has a photographic memory, so I was assuming she'd inherited that, because like sin1732, I can't even remember yesterday!




DarthVicomte
Vicomte's Blog Extravaganza

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 11:29 AM
Burn the witch!

I mean...................yes, very.........um............neat..........



janlomona
Smugglers Rants

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 1:39 PM
That is cool. Can we transplant some of your son's brain matter into mine, my memory is shot. I spent an hour the other day trying to remember the character names of two of the Desparate Housewives, and I drew a total blank. It's not like I don't watch the show every week!!



ki-adi-mundi-28

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 4:49 PM
YOU LET YOUR 3 YEAR OLD KID WATCH THAT MOVIE!?! That is an evil movie! Do you know what you are putting in his head?



silver-saber
Rants of an old fool

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 5:07 PM
Yeah at that age it's preety weird. My dad is always telling me(now that i'm a big sw fan) that when he first sat me and him down to watch starwars that all I took away from the movie was "that stupid music that they always play" when DV or th empire is shown, not the saber duels, not the blaster fights, or the Millienieum falcon.....weird

maybe thats why i like it so much now.......



cbern
Omega Squad's 5th member

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 5:21 PM
hmmm what does this have to do with star wars?

but i like harry potter also



Jedi Master Mina
Bootylicious Tales of a Jedi Drama Queen

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 5:26 PM
Burn the witch! I mean...................yes, very.........um............neat..........

DV you are so silly. It's just all that inherited Jedi Force stuff, that's all. No need to have a Salem Witch hunt!! Maybe a Sith hunt, but not a witch hunt.

...Just kidding!!



Caparran

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 5:55 PM
I must have been about four when I first visited Walt Disney World in 1975. We got to the Hall of Presidents. I can still recall the moment when the animatronic Abe Lincoln got up from his chair to speak when I exclaimed rather excitedly, "Look, everybody, it's that man in the dollar bill"! Believe me, Mr. Lincoln had nothing on me that afternoon, I literally brought the house down through uncontrolable laughter witn my comment! Young memories recalled in adult life are beautiful things...But I never stop to think if the writer of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" was in that audience, too. Keanu Reeves said the exact same thing I did...



Darth Tsarar

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 6:16 PM
hmmm what does this have to do with star wars?

I thought the same thing. But when you consider that the blog is titled "Life, the Star Wars Universe and Everything," I think we can let it slide.

The padawan is right.
Master Yoda, Episode II, Attack of the Clones



jedimastergoalie

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 6:39 PM
I don't mean to nitpick, but the lake is the third task. But thats pretty cool, how your three year-old remembered that.



jedimastergoalie

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 6:40 PM
Wow, sorry, I meant to say the second task, sadly I must no longer be a child.



jedimastergoalie

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 6:41 PM
Wow, sorry, I meant to say the second task, my mind must be insignificant next to the mind of a child.



Princess Leia94

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:26 PM
Thats really cool
i have a really good memory but my older sister got shot
she is so forgetful
(she is always complaining that i got all the good genes and she got the bad one like eyesight, hieght, ect.)



sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:41 PM
HELOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo
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sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:46 PM
thats what they said about the lake




sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:46 PM
they said it was the third task




sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:48 PM
its amazing when kids remember stuff from long ago that some people might forget
"Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is."



sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:51 PM
i wonder if children can remember stuff about movies at age 1.
i know at three or two they can especialy is the movie has a charecter they really like .
for example my sister likes yoda so when she sees star wars and yoda pops out she usually remembers what he will do or say.
!!FREAKY!!



sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:53 PM
oh yeah you were riht about it being 2nd task.
third was the maze type thing.



sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:54 PM
Star Wars ROCKS
and to stay on the subject
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!KIDS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That means me too!!!



sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:55 PM
Darth Maul rocks



sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:57 PM
on my sixth messege i was referring to jedimastergoalie


Thank you
this will be my last comment.



sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:59 PM
PshycPshycPshycPshyc

remember when i said "this will be my last comment."
I LIED



sith0991

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 7:59 PM
HEE HEE HEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



The Short Stormtrooper
Confessions of a Short Stormtrooper

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 8:03 PM
Which is why the Empire REALLY needed to show those Death Star plans to a five year old. Ten bucks says the kid would have noticed the big exhaust port at the end of the giant trench inside of three seconds. *sigh* Its a bloody miracle the Empire lasted the twenty years it did.



darth_complicated

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 9:48 PM
My earliest memory is when I am in the buggie, taken apart a cap. when I was 2 or 3 years old,



darthrobert89

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 11:28 PM
yeah my nieces are like that they remember everything mostly about Star Wars so im a very proud uncle



NerfHerdersAnonymous
Life, the Star Wars Universe and Everything

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 11:36 PM
Images really. Feelings.
I can't tell you how close I came to quoting that. hehe

luuke -
she could tell us specific details of the day her brother was born - and she had been 2-1/2
It just makes your jaw drop

LOL, thanks for the correction on the number of task it was. I was watching the freakin' movie and lost track...oooh, the memory is a funny little thing.





NerfHerdersAnonymous
Life, the Star Wars Universe and Everything

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 11:42 PM
Kids are stinkin' sponges at that age! (If you ever want your kid to know a second language, teach 'em early
hehe, stinkin' love it! We're on the language thing!

Something that shocked me or brought me joy and happiness when I was that age - things I won't soon forget.
Oh boy! Me too. I was in a camper explosion when I'd just turned 4. I remember every movement, every thing that happened. Including running from the camper and seeing my hair burning and how horrified my mother looked when she saw me.

Jedi Master Mina - That's a good feeling memory, I like those.






NerfHerdersAnonymous
Life, the Star Wars Universe and Everything

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 11:46 PM
ewanandhaydenfan5
wow, that's just incredible.

That is cool. Can we transplant some of your son's brain matter into mine, my memory is shot. I spent an hour the other day trying to remember the character names of two of the Desparate Housewives, and I drew a total blank. It's not like I don't watch the show every week!!
hahaha!! Yes, I feel the same way and have had similar "problems" with certain things...though I've got a steel trap for other things, go figure.

YOU LET YOUR 3 YEAR OLD KID WATCH THAT MOVIE!?! That is an evil movie! Do you know what you are putting in his head?
LOL, not like I let him watch Kill Bill. Funny.



NerfHerdersAnonymous
Life, the Star Wars Universe and Everything

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 11:56 PM
silver-saber -
see, that's just awesome. My son sings along to the music when he hears it, mostly the main theme and the Imperial March (of course), he does the same thing with the THX "deep note" and other movie themes. I love when he recalls good music like that.

Caparran
Ah, so you were the inspiration...I'll be danged. That's cute!



NerfHerdersAnonymous
Life, the Star Wars Universe and Everything

date Posted: Mar 23, 2006 11:58 PM
hmmm what does this have to do with star wars?
LOL...as I say each time someone mentions this...my blog has a SW connection down almost every turn (if you read other entries you might have seen this) and my site (for which this blog is associated) is 100% SW. I'm allowed a huge load of leeway.
I thought the same thing. But when you consider that the blog is titled "Life, the Star Wars Universe and Everything," I think we can let it slide.
See? Thanks!

jedimastergoalie
Ah, you ain't so perfect either, not to nitpick or anything. hehehe Thanks, I fixed that.





NerfHerdersAnonymous
Life, the Star Wars Universe and Everything

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 12:03 AM
sith0991
Children remember things that interest them, while adults have to remember things for other reasons....not that it works out all that well sometimes.

Which is why the Empire REALLY needed to show those Death Star plans to a five year old. Ten bucks says the kid would have noticed the big exhaust port at the end of the giant trench inside of three seconds. *sigh* Its a bloody miracle the Empire lasted the twenty years it did.

I laughed so hard I was in tears. Thank you! *still laughing*

darthrobert89
*sigh* that's the good stuff.

Thanks! Loved reading it all.
LM



jbl_usa
Master Vernun Linde - Keeper of the Force Archives and the Journal of the Wills

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 3:18 AM
If anyone is interested emotional memories are stored in the brain through the Amygdala, which is in an advanced stage of development at birth. Therefore, children can remember emotional content of situations and often recall bits and pieces of situations which elicited strong emotional experiences. These emotional memories, as any other memory of this kind, but particularly early emotional memories, influence judgments and the processing, encoding, and recall of later information, especially when information and situations are consistent with the memory.



jbl_usa
Master Vernun Linde - Keeper of the Force Archives and the Journal of the Wills

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 3:18 AM
Thus situations elicit emotional memories which in turn modified the perception of situations. Call it a type of "conditioning" to think in a certain way. That is what emotional memories do (which explain things like phobias).

Sensory memory (information stored from input from the senses) in the other hand, especially semantic memory (memory that is encoded through verbal patterns and that is often recalled and described in language), is stored in the brain through the hypothalamus which is not at all developed at birth and it only reaches and advanced stage of development by age six.



jbl_usa
Master Vernun Linde - Keeper of the Force Archives and the Journal of the Wills

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 3:18 AM
By age four it is developed enough (and language is developed enough) so that the process of recall of events is more accurate. Even so later with memory, there is a tendency for new and old memory to mingle, fade away, be portioned, etc. Memory is hardly a clear cut cognitive process.

Thus, infants are capable of long term memory formation but the consolidation of these memories is not possible due to an underdeveloped hypothalamus. Any memory before 4 years old is probably a mixture of strong emotional memories and information acquired later that became associated with these emotions.



jbl_usa
Master Vernun Linde - Keeper of the Force Archives and the Journal of the Wills

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 3:18 AM
Thus the memory of the events of a murder witnessed is often charged with emotional material anyways. But before the age of four, it is certainly in reality just events later added to emotional memory. So what you remember of something that happened before you were four is probably what you were told about it after you were four.

Infants are capable of remembering information for long times. Language acquisition proves this. But we do not normally remember information prior to 4 years old because after the hypothalamus develops we encode things semantically. Before it is done in another way (through loose association perhaps, no one can be sure yet).



jbl_usa
Master Vernun Linde - Keeper of the Force Archives and the Journal of the Wills

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 3:21 AM
Thus information encoded before 4 cannot be accurately recalled after because we now also think semantically and therefore are not used to accessing information stored in the previous way. That is why only smells, sounds, and feelings encoded before 4 can be recalled (they are not as much semantically encoded and we are used to accessing these types even after 4).

What a child remembers before 4. She remembers because it is emotioanally important to her/him and it is remembered in a non-semantical way. After 4 only the smell, sound, touch part of non-semantic memory is somewhat accessible. After we get used to using semantic processing, we can no longer store and access early memories that were not formed in this way.



jbl_usa
Master Vernun Linde - Keeper of the Force Archives and the Journal of the Wills

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 3:24 AM
Memory is very complicated and very interesting to study. But one thigs is for sure. It is awesome that somehow children find "fantasy" emotionally charging enough that they remember it, before and after 4!!!



Darth_Muh

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 5:20 AM
One of my first memories, at 3 years old, was watching this movie where this guy dressed all in black was holding this other guy wearing a funny hat up in the air by the throat, asking where some plans were....

now if I could just remember the name of it ; )



Philly Fan--GO EAGLES!!!!

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 5:33 AM
I remember when my brother was born...I was a year old at the time.



obi jon kenobi8

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 7:37 AM
my god! how old are some of you people?!:P cool story



Oboe-Wan
Oboe-Wan's Hive of Scum & Villainy

date Posted: Mar 24, 2006 8:03 AM
THere are a lot of people that don't believe me, but I have memories of my 1st birthday party. Now.... to quote my favorite SW heroine "Just images really, feelings." That's all they are. I brought these "images" up to my parents, thinking I had dreamt them, & they confirmed it was my first birthday. I only asked them about these images 3 years ago. So the other 28 years of my life I wasn't aware that these were "real" memories.

My son does remember one traumatic thing that happened to him when he was 19 months old - he fell out of the crib while we were visiting my parents. He randomly brought it up a few months ago but I haven't heard him speak of it since. Perhaps a bit of that short-term memory rewriting itself.

Cool blog!!