Short memory

Scientists have been studying why people don’t remember being babies. They attribute the phenomenon called infantile amnesia to the underdeveloped hippocampus, the part of the brain that stores memories.

A new study by psychologist Professor Nick Turk-Browne, however, contradicts the theory and offers another explanation.

Turk-Browne told BBC Science Focus (BSF) that “infant amnesia may be a problem with accessing memories that have been stored, rather than an inability to store the memories in the first place.”

“Then we found that the infant hippocampus, as early as three months, engages in statistical learning,” Turk-Browne said, BSF reports.

Statistical memory is learning that is formed across many points in time, such as gradually understanding words in a language, according to BSF.

Meanwhile, adults experience short memory from time to time.

A pilot of United Flight 198 flying from Los Angeles to Shanghai, China diverted to San Francisco on 22 March, NBC News reports.

The 257 passengers and 13 crew members on board were delayed by six hours because the pilot had forgotten something.

United Airlines explained in a statement that the pilot did not have his passport, so the plane had to return to California where a new flight crew would take the passengers to their destination, according to NBC News.