Overview

• Infants begin forming episodic memories around 12 months of age, driven by increased hippocampal activity during memory encoding.
• Earlier statistical learning, evident as early as three months, provides a foundation for later episodic memory development.
• The study highlights rapid hippocampal growth around age one as a key factor in the onset of memory formation.
• Researchers used innovative methods, including fMRI and eye-tracking, to measure memory processes in pre-verbal infants.
• Findings suggest early memories may remain encoded but inaccessible, with ongoing research exploring their potential reactivation.