Reply #1: Stephanie McCoy.
I find it very interesting that your earliest childhood memories are linked to moving from one state to another, especially from Florida to North Carolina. It has been proposed that earliest memories are linked to stressful events (Tobin & Etigson, 1968), and I believe that moving from one state to another where the weather is difference exerts some amount of stress on such a young child.
Reply #2: Jashonda Thompson.
Since MS is a neurodegenerative disease, the storage of new information into the short-term slots of memory might be compromised, as you tell. Nevertheless, information stored in our long-term memory should not be affected. I believe it is common to the general population to have gaps in our earliest childhood memories, despite neurodegenerative diseases.
Reply #3: Valerie Thompson.
It would be hard to say that the experience with the lemon pie was not absolutely real. As you tell it, it does seem very real. It is linked to a stressful situation, so I would not find it surprising that your young brain had decided to store it. I believe that the brain stores this kind of information due to an evolutionary process. I believe that earlier humans needed to record stressful information in memory to prepare and avoid similar circumstances in the future, thus improving the chances of survival. I do not find it surprising that you got to remember this experience and your sister did not, since it was not stressful for her.
Reply #4: Joshua Reynolds.
I agree with your description of how memory errors/false memories could be the result of vivid dreams. I also believe that false memories could be instilled, so it would be possible for a person to place a false memory on another person, even if not intentionally. Furthermore, memory is such malleable that even the same person could be capable of creating memory errors, based on weakly storage of information and emotions.
Reply #5: Jackeeya Vaughan.
I really admired that you have such a powerful memory and that you remember several life events, even in your early childhood. I think it was so bad what happened to you and your family during the robbing experience. As you say, you especially remember these situations if it was a significant time or issue, so emotional involvement should be cornerstone in the storage of memory.
Reply #6:
I would not be so sure that your account of the old man playing in fire was a false memory. As your grandmother says, there was a man and there was fire, so it should not be an error of the memory. Perhaps it is an error of perception, because you did not recognize it was your grandfather. But I believe is not so odd that you did not recognize it, since you did not get to spend that much time with him.
References
Tobin, S. S., & Etigson, E. (1968). Effect of stress on earliest memory. Archives of General Psychiatry, 19(4), 435-444.
