A little imprecision goes a long way in launching memory development

Abstract

From the earliest moments in their lives, infants begin to build memories about their past and accumulate knowledge about the world. In this article, we focus on the distinction between memory for specific events and memory for general information, and the ongoing debate about which type of memory provides the foundation for the development of the other. Some researchers argue that specific memory developmentally precedes general memory, whereas others support the opposite position. Our literature review suggests that the latter position is inconsistent with many empirical findings and theoretical principles of memory captured by computational models capable of accounting for these findings. We propose that just good enough mnemonic acuity could be a starting point for memory development, and that it can support both specific and generalized memories.