Y: Hey Don, what's your earliest memory?

D: Hmm, let's see, Yaël. I think I was three years old, and I remember looking out the window at a huge hailstorm.

Y: Three years old, huh?

D: Is that early? I have been told I have a pretty good memory.

Y: It actually couldn't be more average. Most people say their earliest memory is from around that age, which led researchers to believe that children start forming long-term memories at around three and a half years old. The thing is, in these studies researchers only asked adults about their earliest memory. Some researchers got to thinking, what would happen if we asked children?

D: What happened?

Y: In one study, groups of five year olds and of eight to nine year olds were able to recollect memories from their first year of life--some even of their first few months. Which implies that the problem isn't that we can't form memories earlier than three and a half, it's just that our brains aren't very good at remembering yet. In another study, researchers showed three and four year olds a locked treasure chest. Fifteen minutes later, the kids were given a choice among three objects, one of which was a key to the treasure chest. After fifteen minutes, both the three and four year olds were more likely to pick the key. After twenty-four hours, however, only the four year olds were more likely to pick the key. The three year olds had forgotten all about the chest.

D: What chest?

Y: You're joking, right?

D: I'm joking, I'm joking. I remember. I can even give a recap: Young children's brains can encode information, they just can't recall it later.