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Curious Cases

The Forgetful Child

Curious Cases

BBC

Science

4.84.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2017

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"Why don't we remember the first few years of our lives?" asks David Foulger from Cheltenham.

The team investigate the phenomenon of 'infant amnesia' and how memories are made with Catherine Loveday from the University of Westminster.

A whopping 40% of people say they can remember back to before they were two years old, and 18% can recall being babies.

But can we really trust these early memories? Martin Conway from City University discusses his latest findings, taken from data gathered during 'The Memory Experience' on BBC Radio 4.

Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford Producer: Michelle Martin.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'd just like to tell you about a podcast that I've been doing with my friend Brian Cox.

0:04.8

I'm Robinins. Welcome to The Infinite Monkey Cage.

0:07.2

What we're doing in this new series, Sharks, fungi, bees versus wasps.

0:11.8

We're going to explain how bees explode, why wasps don't explode,

0:15.0

before we then climb into a Supervolcano metaphorically.

0:18.2

So, if you'd like to hear about the magnificence and strangeness of the universe

0:22.4

and all the wonders that lie within, listen to The Infinite Monkey Cage.

0:25.2

And you can listen to the whole series before anyone else

0:27.8

when you listen on BBC Sound.

0:30.2

Hello and welcome to the final episode in series three of the curious cases

0:35.2

of rather than frown.

0:36.8

I have been incredibly unprofessional and not checked out what the title of this programme

0:40.8

is for this. Oh, it's a good one. Oh, here we go.

0:42.6

Oh, no hang on, we've got an awe. I think this means we can choose, I don't know.

0:45.6

Okay. The option one, infantile amnesia.

0:48.6

The curious case of infantile amnesia.

0:50.8

Or the curious case of the forgetful child, definitely the latter.

0:53.8

It's definitely the number two. I mean, that sounds like an act of the Christy.

0:56.6

The fact that Michelle would even bother putting that first one on is insulting.

0:59.6

Michelle's our producer. She's brilliant. Normally.

1:04.0

Normally, this is, this is an uncharacteristic slip of hers, I see.

1:07.6

Michelle, in this case, you've let us down, you've let you've let Dr. Fry down.

...

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