As part of a Dissertation on human memory, I ran into a reference to
retrograde amnesia covering a three-year period. Supposedly it takes
three years for episodic memory to become long-term, so that hippocampal
damage results in loss of the three years prior to the damage event.
There was speculation that this was due to incomplete myelinization of
the connecting axon sheath.
Two questions: Since that ref. was the only one I've seen to a
three-year period of memory loss, is it true? And, in the human brain,
how long does it actually take for myelinization to be complete?
I have also seen speculation that the above is the reason most of us
remember very little from the period before age 3. Any thoughts on that?
Any suggestions of resources to either corraborate or negate?
Thanks in advance-- Joy Weaver
