Don't we have memories before the age of 3?

i read something that says we seldom have memories predate our third birthdays. if you have heard statements or studies like this, does it refer to our conscious memories(memories that you can clearly retrieve at any time, like: huh, i remember when i was 12 i learned how to ride bike) or unconscious(memories that you don't even know is it there, but somehow retrieved when you see the context clues relating to the memory)? or both?

i doubt if it's really true. i have a friend who's kid is about 2 years old. if he doesn't have memories, how can he remember to call my friend "mommy" every time he sees her?or does the ability to rememberr things talking about in the book i read only refer to events not things like words and names we learned, we remembered?

This memory phenomenon has never been explained to the satisfaction of either a typical adult or many professionals in the field of cognition.

It is linked with the formation and development of the mental boundary often called the human ego. Inside the boundary is the part of the universe with which each individual identifies as "self". Outside of the boundary is "everything else". Most memories are made of stored experiences which are often linked to emotional components.

There is not one type of memory. All memories are not the same. Recall, Recognition and Paired associates are all different from one another. Other individuals would break memory down into Sensory Information as well as Short and Long Term items.

Each memory must be Encoded (as visual or verbal, etc.- with or without any emotional components) before it can be stored. Once stored, it must be maintained or it will be forgotten. Finally, it must be retrieved.

The 2 year old has memories that are usable now. How many of these will be accessed often enough to maintain them when he or she is 15? Most people will not remember events which happened before they were 3 years old.

We do, but memories from before when we learned to speak are non-verbal.

well when you're that young your brain isn't fully developed, so maybe you can't really 'store' memories. like your frontal lobe of your brain isn't developed and that's how you remember stuff....i think. i saw something about that on tv one time.
anyway you see your mom almost everyday when you're little, so you wouldn't forget that. but if you went to the carnaval one time when you were like two, you would forget. i have a few memories but they don't really involve talking and stuff because i was little and couldn't talk. just little pieces of memories from being at disney or whatever.

We don't really have episodic memories from the age of three. Episodic is life memories or autobiographical memories - of events, what happened. We can still aquire semantic knowledge (fact based knowledge i.e. calling her mommy. This woman is mommy. She is nice etc, facts from the book but not the memory of sitting there and being read too) and we have short term memory - although it's not very good. Young children very quickly forget something when it's hidden. But we are not very good at making robust long term memories. It is also possible we make them but they decay quickly compared to memories we make when we are older. The fact remains we do not usually have episodic memories of being under three, unconcious or otherwise.

This may be something to do with lack of self-awareness, lack of verbal ability or lack of proper attention, or to do with the brain growing. There is some evidence young children use different strategies for storing information.