Narrative and Memory

Children of Maori, the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, have the earliest memories of any culture studied:

New clues to why Māori adults tend to have the earliest childhood memories of any culture studied so far are being revealed by University of Otago research.

The study by Department of Psychology researchers found that Māori mothers appear to talk with their children in richer ways about significant events involving them, such as their birth.

This brings of questions of storytelling or narrative and memory formation.

It could be simple: exposure to powerful narrative – especially about your own birth – makes a lasting impact on the memories you bank.

Or it could expose what types of stories prove more memorable:

After categorising conversations for the level and type of detail mothers provided, they found that Māori mothers provided more references to time and emotions in their birth stories than European mothers, she says.

“We found that the richness of the style in which mothers related the birth stories strongly predicted how good children were at talking about more recent past events they had experienced.”

In the end, it confirms that from an extremely early age we respond to well-told stories.

Another reason to drop the baby talk.