Why Can't You Remember Being a Baby?

You spent roughly your first three years awake, learning faster than you ever will again - and you can't remember a second of it. This video breaks down infantile amnesia: why your brain forgets your earliest years, what the newest neuroscience reveals about where those memories go, and why forgetting them might be the most important thing your brain ever did. We look at the babies-can-actually-remember experiments, the 2025 Yale fMRI study that overturned the old explanation, the neurogenesis "buried, not deleted" theory, and what language and your sense of self have to do with it. ⏱️ Chapters: 00:00 – You don't remember any of it 00:26 – Babies actually DO remember 01:12 – The great mystery 02:07 – The old explanation 02:43 – The 2025 study that changed everything 03:30 – Buried, not deleted 05:15 – Language and the self 05:39 – Why your brain does this If you enjoyed this, you'll probably like our other videos on the strange science of being human. 💬 What topic or historical mystery should we sketch out next? Let me know in the comments! Business Mail: [email protected] #infantileamnesia #memory #neuroscience #psychology #humanbrain 📖 Sources & Further Reading: Rovee-Collier, C. (1987). Learning and Memory in Infancy. Rovee-Collier, C., & Hayne, H. (1987). Research on infant memory and the mobile-kicking experiments. Turk-Browne, N., et al. (2025). Yale University research on hippocampal activity and memory formation in human infants. Frankland, P. W., & Josselyn, S. A. (2012). Neurogenesis and Infantile Amnesia. Akers, K. G., et al. (2014). Hippocampal Neurogenesis Regulates Forgetting. Ryan, T. J., et al. (2015). Engram Cells Retain Memory Under Retrograde Amnesia. Freud, S. (1905). Early discussions of "infantile amnesia" (historical context; modern neuroscience offers different explanations).