Zone1 Do newborn infants have long term memory

[Hafar1014]

Some still believe in the blank slate tabula rasa concept when an infant is born. This has been a serious error in the case of adoptions. It was believed that the baby wont have any memory of the loss of the birth mother.

Infants are born with a functioning Limbic System which creates memory and emotion. There is no prefrontal cortex which is explicit thought.

Taken from Robert Hafetz Parenting the adopted child
Infants only a few days old can record long term memories. “Infants do not think but they do process emotions and long term memories are stored as affective schemas” (Geansbauer, 2002). An infant separated from its first mother will record a memory of that event. Memories of this nature are called preverbal memory representations and they have a unique quality that must be understood by adoptive parents. “Infant memories are recalled in adulthood the same way they were recorded at the time they occurred. It is difficult possibly impossible for children to map newly acquired verbal skills on to existing preverbal memory representations” (Richardson, R., & Hayne, H. 2007). An older adoptee who recalls an emotional memory will experience it the same way it was felt as an infant. Adoptees can have troubling memories that they cannot identify in words. This means that they cannot understand what they are feeling and without a vocabulary they cannot even ask for help. This leads to a cognitive /emotional disconnection. “Children fail to translate their preverbal memories into language”(Simcock, Hayne, 2002).

An adopted child will learn from his family that he is wanted, loved, belongs with them, and that they will never leave him. His emotional memories will trigger fears that are exactly the opposite. An adopted child can know he belongs but feel isolated. He can know that he will never be abandoned but feel that he will. He can know that he is whole but feel that a part of him is missing. He can know that he is loved but feel that he is not. This incongruence between thoughts and feelings becomes the foundation of poor attachment, problem behaviors, power struggles, poor academic performance, and behaviors parents can’t understand. The struggle to bring thoughts and feelings into coherence can be a lifelong task for adopted children. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Enlightened parents can create a nurturing healing environment within the family if they are aware of this process and are proficient in how to deal with it. The knowledge needed to raise an adopted child is not readily available and few effective parenting programs can be found. The foundation of healing attachment related resistance is to create experiences of secure attachment when the child is experiencing attachment anxiety or acting out in challenging behaviors.

References

Gaensbauer, T. (2002). Representations of trauma in infancy: Clinical and theoretical

implications. 23(3), 259-277. doi:10.1002/imhj.10020.

Lierberman, & Pawl, (1988). Clinical applications of attachment theory. In J. Belsky & T.

Nezworski, (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment ( 327-351). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Richardson, R. & Hayne H. (2007). You Can't Take It With You: The translation of memory

across development. Current directions in, psychological science, 16, 223 - 227.

Schore, A.N. (2001). The effects of a secure attachment relationship on right brain development,

affect regulation, and infant mental health. Infant mental mental health journal, 22, 7-66.

Simcock, G., Hayne, H. (2002). Children fail to translate their preverbal memories into language.

American Psychological Society 13(3), 225-231.

 

[alang1216]

Some still believe in the blank slate tabula rasa concept when an infant is born. This has been a serious error in the case of adoptions. It was believed that the baby wont have any memory of the loss of the birth mother.

Infants are born with a functioning Limbic System which creates memory and emotion. There is no prefrontal cortex which is explicit thought.

Taken from Robert Hafetz Parenting the adopted child
Infants only a few days old can record long term memories. “Infants do not think but they do process emotions and long term memories are stored as affective schemas” (Geansbauer, 2002). An infant separated from its first mother will record a memory of that event. Memories of this nature are called preverbal memory representations and they have a unique quality that must be understood by adoptive parents. “Infant memories are recalled in adulthood the same way they were recorded at the time they occurred. It is difficult possibly impossible for children to map newly acquired verbal skills on to existing preverbal memory representations” (Richardson, R., & Hayne, H. 2007). An older adoptee who recalls an emotional memory will experience it the same way it was felt as an infant. Adoptees can have troubling memories that they cannot identify in words. This means that they cannot understand what they are feeling and without a vocabulary they cannot even ask for help. This leads to a cognitive /emotional disconnection. “Children fail to translate their preverbal memories into language”(Simcock, Hayne, 2002).

An adopted child will learn from his family that he is wanted, loved, belongs with them, and that they will never leave him. His emotional memories will trigger fears that are exactly the opposite. An adopted child can know he belongs but feel isolated. He can know that he will never be abandoned but feel that he will. He can know that he is whole but feel that a part of him is missing. He can know that he is loved but feel that he is not. This incongruence between thoughts and feelings becomes the foundation of poor attachment, problem behaviors, power struggles, poor academic performance, and behaviors parents can’t understand. The struggle to bring thoughts and feelings into coherence can be a lifelong task for adopted children. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Enlightened parents can create a nurturing healing environment within the family if they are aware of this process and are proficient in how to deal with it. The knowledge needed to raise an adopted child is not readily available and few effective parenting programs can be found. The foundation of healing attachment related resistance is to create experiences of secure attachment when the child is experiencing attachment anxiety or acting out in challenging behaviors.

References

Gaensbauer, T. (2002). Representations of trauma in infancy: Clinical and theoretical

implications. 23(3), 259-277. doi:10.1002/imhj.10020.

Lierberman, & Pawl, (1988). Clinical applications of attachment theory. In J. Belsky & T.

Nezworski, (Eds.), Clinical implications of attachment ( 327-351). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Richardson, R. & Hayne H. (2007). You Can't Take It With You: The translation of memory

across development. Current directions in, psychological science, 16, 223 - 227.

Schore, A.N. (2001). The effects of a secure attachment relationship on right brain development,

affect regulation, and infant mental health. Infant mental mental health journal, 22, 7-66.

Simcock, G., Hayne, H. (2002). Children fail to translate their preverbal memories into language.

American Psychological Society 13(3), 225-231.

Imprinting is a form of learning, primarily observed in animals, where a young individual forms a strong social attachment to a specific object or individual during a critical period of development. This attachment, often to a parent or caregiver, influences the individual's behavior and social preferences later in life. It's a rapid and irreversible process, crucial for survival and social development in many species.

 

[Hafar1014]

Imprinting is a form of learning, primarily observed in animals, where a young individual forms a strong social attachment to a specific object or individual during a critical period of development. This attachment, often to a parent or caregiver, influences the individual's behavior and social preferences later in life. It's a rapid and irreversible process, crucial for survival and social development in many species.

In humans imprinting is not used its term for lower animals. In humans attachment is created by a shared existence, hormones (oxytocin), and a shared psychology. The infant exists as part of the mother mind literally as one person a dyad. It takes 6 months after birth before a baby becomes aware of itself as an individual separate from the mother.

Mahler's concepts of "symbiosis" and separation-individuation: revisited, reevaluated, refined - PubMed

Mahler's developmental theories are reviewed in the light of subsequent clinical experience and theoretical and empirical critique. Several modifications are proposed, each tending to particularize and focus the nature and scope of developmental events. Particular attention is accorded the...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

See Fred Pine, Margaret Mahwler, and Annie Bergman.

In adoption this process is torn apart creating a preverbal trauma.
Preverbal trauma refers to traumatic experiences that occur before a person develops the ability to use language to express themselves, typically before the age of 2 or 3. These experiences can significantly impact development and are often stored in the body as sensations, emotions, and patterns rather than as conscious memories.

 

[ding]

It's a rapid and irreversible process, crucial for survival and social development in many species.

Why would nature care if life survived? And before you say it doesn’t, you need to explain why nature has given all life a survival instinct for self preservation.

Or do you not believe that self preservation is a biological imperative that is naturally programmed to motivate organisms to take actions that increase their chances of survival and minimize harm?

 

[Hafar1014]

Why would nature care if life survived? And before you say it doesn’t, you need to explain why nature has given all life a survival instinct for self preservation.

Or do you not believe that self preservation is a biological imperative that is naturally programmed to motivate organisms to take actions that increase their chances of survival and minimize harm?

Attachment is a vital process that humans need to develop the personality. Humans need social interaction and secure attachment to develop normally

 

[alang1216]

Why would nature care if life survived? And before you say it doesn’t, you need to explain why nature has given all life a survival instinct for self preservation.

Or do you not believe that self preservation is a biological imperative that is naturally programmed to motivate organisms to take actions that increase their chances of survival and minimize harm?

If by 'nature' you mean the universe, no it doesn't care about life. It will randomly throw rocks at planets whether they host life or not. If by 'nature' you mean the laws of evolution, then it obviously leads to a biological imperative to motivate organisms to take actions that increase their chances of survival and minimize harm.

 

[ding]

Attachment is a vital process that humans need to develop the personality. Humans need social interaction and secure attachment to develop normally

I agree. My question was why would nature care if we or any other living thing survived?

 

[Hafar1014]

I agree. My question was why would nature care if we or any other living thing survived?

Man transcends nature and is also bound by it. Nature is an abstract concept it cant care. Naturally man is intended to survive and reproduce. Beyond that humans are complex. We must have life with meaning and we need to develop emotionally. Attachments to a family is the model of emotional development and the personality. Animals require 8 weeks humans many more years. Emotions are fuel in our minds and in order fir them to develop normally we need secure atachments

 

[ding]

Man transcends nature and is also bound by it. Nature is an abstract concept it cant care. Naturally man is intended to survive and reproduce. Beyond that humans are complex. We must have life with meaning and we need to develop emotionally. Attachments to a family is the model of emotional development and the personality. Animals require 8 weeks humans many more years. Emotions are fuel in our minds and in order fir them to develop normally we need secure atachments

Nature certainly has a preference for life to survive. Otherwise, life wouldn’t be programmed that way.

 

[ding]

If by 'nature' you mean the universe, no it doesn't care about life. It will randomly throw rocks at planets whether they host life or not. If by 'nature' you mean the laws of evolution, then it obviously leads to a biological imperative to motivate organisms to take actions that increase their chances of survival and minimize harm.

And yet nature has programmed all life to survive. Why is that?

That doesn’t seem very random, now does it? It seems quite intentional.

 

[alang1216]

And yet nature has programmed all life to survive. Why is that?

That doesn’t seem very random, now does it? It seems quite intentional.

Did nature program all life to survive or did it just naturally select those that did struggle to survive. So both random and intentional.

 

[ding]

Did nature program all life to survive or did it just naturally select those that did struggle to survive. So both random and intentional.

Can you walk me through how that would work genetically?

Make sure to list all of the physiological responses of the brain chemistry that you believe evolved through slight successive changes. Then we can delve into life forms without brain chemistries.

Short answer, yes, all life is programmed for survival by nature and it’s not a genetic trait, it’s literally an artifact of life itself.

 

[Hafar1014]

And yet nature has programmed all life to survive. Why is that?

That doesn’t seem very random, now does it? It seems quite intentional.

Self preservation is inherent involving life even a bacteria has this. If your wondering about creative design consider this. There is an inherent human need to define individual meaning for ones life. This is beyond survival preservation of the species. So we create art music poetry devote our lives to benefiting humanity. This can even oppose preservation. When our lives lack meaning we feel despair confusion depression

“To be sure, man’s search for meaning may arouse inner tension rather than inner equilibrium. However, precisely such tension is an indispensable prerequisite of mental health. There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life. There is much wisdom in the words of Nietzsche: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how”

Victor Frankl Quotes: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”

 

[alang1216]

Can you walk me through how that would work genetically?

Make sure to list all of the physiological responses of the brain chemistry that you believe evolved through slight successive changes. Then we can delve into life forms without brain chemistries.

Let's start at the beginning. Even the simplest forms of life can sense their environment. Take two amoeba, they both sense a dangerous chemical, one moves away, one does not. Which do you think will pass on its genes?

Short answer, yes, all life is programmed for survival by nature and it’s not a genetic trait, it’s literally an artifact of life itself.

What is an 'artifact of life itself'?

 

[Monk-Eye]

" Sentience Is A Precursor For Sapience "

* Phallus Mutilators All Proud *

My recollection is well imprinted near after the circumcision , of grimacing in anticipation of the initial burning when urinating that stopped after the wound and diaper became wet ; and , of avoiding movement so the new dry cloth of the diaper would not rub on the raw wound as well as of wincing when it rubbed when applied .

At some point there is a memory of relief that the stinging had finally stopped happening , when urination occurred after the circumcision .

 

[Hafar1014]

Let's start at the beginning. Even the simplest forms of life can sense their environment. Take two amoeba, they both sense a dangerous chemical, one moves away, one does not. Which do you think will pass on its genes?


What is an 'artifact of life itself'?

Its genetic further modified by epigenetics

 

[ding]

Let's start at the beginning. Even the simplest forms of life can sense their environment. Take two amoeba, they both sense a dangerous chemical, one moves away, one does not. Which do you think will pass on its genes?


What is an 'artifact of life itself'?

Which gene do you think controlled that? What mechanism do you believe controls self preservation?

An artifact of life are all the characteristics of life that are inherent to all life.

 

[ding]

Self preservation is inherent involving life even a bacteria has this. If your wondering about creative design consider this. There is an inherent human need to define individual meaning for ones life. This is beyond survival preservation of the species. So we create art music poetry devote our lives to benefiting humanity. This can even oppose preservation. When our lives lack meaning we feel despair confusion depression

“To be sure, man’s search for meaning may arouse inner tension rather than inner equilibrium. However, precisely such tension is an indispensable prerequisite of mental health. There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life. There is much wisdom in the words of Nietzsche: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how”

Victor Frankl Quotes: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible.”

The point I am making is that nature does have a preference for life to survive and multiply. It’s not a random occurrence.

 

[ding]

Its genetic further modified by epigenetics

How is it genetic? It’s a characteristic of life like breeding/multiplying is a characteristic of life or consuming is a characteristic of life.

 

[Hafar1014]

Which gene do you think controlled that? What mechanism do you believe controls self preservation?

An artifact of life are all the characteristics of life that are inherent to all life.

Genes are inherent. Also epigenetics comes into play
Genes determine our survival instincts. We dont have too identify a specific one. There is self preservation and preservation of the species. Survival responses are an inborn limbic system process. Why even question it.
A better question is why do people choose to end their lives