Overview
- Paul McCartney told Amy Poehler on the Good Hang podcast that he has a feeling he remembers being born, recalling white tiles, chrome instruments and the sound of forceps while also saying he 'doesn't know if [he] made it up.'
- The account has been widely reported by entertainment outlets and picked up across international press within days of the podcast broadcast.
- McCartney noted uncertainty about the memory during the interview and has previously described similar early impressions in past conversations about his life and work.
- Neuroscientists and psychologists responding in news coverage said adults almost never retain autobiographical memories from birth because the infant brain is still forming the systems needed for long-term episodic recall.
- Experts explained that rapid postnatal brain growth, bursts of new neurons and later synaptic pruning can disrupt early memory traces and that vivid 'memories' of infancy often come from repeated family stories or imagination rather than direct recall.