Unveiling the Secrets: The Persistence of Your Earliest Memories

Research on rats suggests that our brains may still store memories of our earliest experiences, even though we cannot recall them. A study from Trinity College Dublin has found that a mother's immune system plays a role in moderating access to these memories, a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia. The study, which involved immunological models of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mice, revealed that male offspring of mothers who had an immune response during pregnancy showed signs of social behavior deficits and remembered fearful events for longer periods. The research suggests that a small immune protein called cytokine IL-17a may be key to this process. Understanding the mechanisms behind infantile amnesia could have important implications for education and medicine.