How Good Is Your Childhood Memory?

This is something that has always bugged me

and maybe now I have an answer.

According to a study published in Science Daily, false childhood memories affect long term behavior. Through out my adult life I have known people who seem to have very detailed memories of their childhood while I struggled to recall a lot of that time.

I thought it was because I had a poor memory or I blocked things out. As far as I know, I had an idyllic childhood and you'll hear no complaints from me. So that leaves me with just poor memory skills. However since reading this, I now wonder if my memory level is somewhat normal and perhaps others have been suggested.

This study demonstrates that: people can easily create false memories of their past and shows that such memories can have long-term effects on our behavior.
The authors also state that: it may be possible for people to learn to avoid certain foods by believing they had negative experiences with the food as a child. Overall, this study clearly demonstrates that false suggestions about childhood events can profoundly change people’s attitudes and behavior.

So if this is true, then we need to be careful what we re-tell our children as they grow (whether positive or negative) because the stories may become embedded as actual memories and change who or what our child believes themselves to be!