Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Baby Memory, TV Ad Volume

Heymatt: This is a really hard thing for me to believe. My friend says she remembers being born. She says she has dreams about being in a real dark place and then being pushed along some big hallway and coming out into a bright place that is noisy and with lots of people. She says she’s sure she’s remembering being born because she has these dreams. She says she also remembers her first birthday party with a cake and ice cream and presents. I asked her how she could be so sure, and she just said what else can it be? So is it possible that she actually remembers being born? I don’t know anyone else who claims that. And I don’t remember my first birthday. Do you? What’s the deal with my ­friend? — Trish, El Cajon

I don’t much remember any birthday. We all get so wasted on Grandma’s birthday pie that birthdays are sort of a blank. But that shouldn’t stop your friend from saying she remembers being born and getting first-birthday presents. People also say they’ve been abducted by aliens, and I think that right is also covered by the First Amendment. I don’t mean to say your friend is wound a little tight, but many doctors ­might.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I guess there must be a lot of other people out there claiming the same things, Trish, because doctors and other science guys have finally broken down and recruited a bunch of pregnant ladies for many studies. Can newborns remember multiplication tables? The effect of AC/DC on the fetal brain. How long does it take a toddler to memorize the Gettysburg ­Address?

Okay, okay. We’ll get on it. So, is there anything to support your friend’s claims? Yes, but we forget what it is. At least that’s what a baby would say. Infants just can’t remember much for very long. Some simple things sink in at about age two, but even those don’t really go into a long-term memory. Science guys taught babies aged two and under a simple toy-assembly routine. Four months later they rounded up the same crowd of toddlers and presented them with the unassembled toy, and only the two-year-olds remembered what they’d learned. Other studies seem to support this idea about kidlets’ long-term recall. The current theory about why this is true states that young’uns’ frontal cortexes — one area significant in the function of long-term memory — is growing like crazy and getting organized before that time so no real memories are laid down. So, there’s a strike against the first-birthday memory. Third birthday, maybe, but first? Uh-uh.

And that’s some play-by-play of your friend’s day of birth. Sometime someone is going to figure out what that long dark hall and bright noisy room are, because your friend’s not the only one to be hanging around there. But it’s no birth recall, at least as far as doctors are concerned. And that’s despite the fact that they’ve actually proved that a fetus can remember stuff! Including TV-show theme songs! Whew! Amazing to think we start wasting our time even before we’re born! So, how do you test a fetus? you ask. Wiggling and kicking. Like, the science guys strapped some doohickey to pregnant ladies’ bellies and transmitted vibrations and a particular musical tones. Most of the kids got all hinky and clearly reacted to the sound. Do this often enough, and the babies stopped reacting. This, the doctors reasoned, was because they’d remembered the sound and become accustomed to ­it.

Some luckier kids got to hear nice music before birth. The same song, repeated. So, once the screaming and birthing was over with, that same piece of music would soothe the child and some kids even stopped crying. A handy tip, perhaps, for those expecting. The science guys found that 32 weeks’ gestation is the point at which a fetus’s short-term memory kicks in. Other studies showed that “short-term” means about 3 weeks. Beyond that, the memory seems to fade unless it is continually ­reinforced.

So there you go, Trish. Not sure how you are going to break this to your friend. Well, she won’t believe you ­anyway.

Stop Shouting!

Long ago you Alicelanders made it clear that you’re sick — do you hear me? — sick of commercials that blast you out of your chair while you’re trying to enjoy some low-volume drama TV. We’ve chewed over the ins and outs of the problem a couple of times, I think. Anyway, I happen to have tripped over a piece of angry legislation introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by a very cheesed-off Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA). It’s labeled the Commercial Loudness Mitigation Act, and it empowers the FCC to enforce the mitigation of commercial loudness, I guess. The bill is creeping its way through the House, so if you want to give it a kick in the butt, contact your representative and express your outrage that advertisers are up to now allowed to run roughshod over our eardrums. This has been a public service ­announcement.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents

Heymatt: This is a really hard thing for me to believe. My friend says she remembers being born. She says she has dreams about being in a real dark place and then being pushed along some big hallway and coming out into a bright place that is noisy and with lots of people. She says she’s sure she’s remembering being born because she has these dreams. She says she also remembers her first birthday party with a cake and ice cream and presents. I asked her how she could be so sure, and she just said what else can it be? So is it possible that she actually remembers being born? I don’t know anyone else who claims that. And I don’t remember my first birthday. Do you? What’s the deal with my ­friend? — Trish, El Cajon

I don’t much remember any birthday. We all get so wasted on Grandma’s birthday pie that birthdays are sort of a blank. But that shouldn’t stop your friend from saying she remembers being born and getting first-birthday presents. People also say they’ve been abducted by aliens, and I think that right is also covered by the First Amendment. I don’t mean to say your friend is wound a little tight, but many doctors ­might.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I guess there must be a lot of other people out there claiming the same things, Trish, because doctors and other science guys have finally broken down and recruited a bunch of pregnant ladies for many studies. Can newborns remember multiplication tables? The effect of AC/DC on the fetal brain. How long does it take a toddler to memorize the Gettysburg ­Address?

Okay, okay. We’ll get on it. So, is there anything to support your friend’s claims? Yes, but we forget what it is. At least that’s what a baby would say. Infants just can’t remember much for very long. Some simple things sink in at about age two, but even those don’t really go into a long-term memory. Science guys taught babies aged two and under a simple toy-assembly routine. Four months later they rounded up the same crowd of toddlers and presented them with the unassembled toy, and only the two-year-olds remembered what they’d learned. Other studies seem to support this idea about kidlets’ long-term recall. The current theory about why this is true states that young’uns’ frontal cortexes — one area significant in the function of long-term memory — is growing like crazy and getting organized before that time so no real memories are laid down. So, there’s a strike against the first-birthday memory. Third birthday, maybe, but first? Uh-uh.

And that’s some play-by-play of your friend’s day of birth. Sometime someone is going to figure out what that long dark hall and bright noisy room are, because your friend’s not the only one to be hanging around there. But it’s no birth recall, at least as far as doctors are concerned. And that’s despite the fact that they’ve actually proved that a fetus can remember stuff! Including TV-show theme songs! Whew! Amazing to think we start wasting our time even before we’re born! So, how do you test a fetus? you ask. Wiggling and kicking. Like, the science guys strapped some doohickey to pregnant ladies’ bellies and transmitted vibrations and a particular musical tones. Most of the kids got all hinky and clearly reacted to the sound. Do this often enough, and the babies stopped reacting. This, the doctors reasoned, was because they’d remembered the sound and become accustomed to ­it.

Some luckier kids got to hear nice music before birth. The same song, repeated. So, once the screaming and birthing was over with, that same piece of music would soothe the child and some kids even stopped crying. A handy tip, perhaps, for those expecting. The science guys found that 32 weeks’ gestation is the point at which a fetus’s short-term memory kicks in. Other studies showed that “short-term” means about 3 weeks. Beyond that, the memory seems to fade unless it is continually ­reinforced.

So there you go, Trish. Not sure how you are going to break this to your friend. Well, she won’t believe you ­anyway.

Stop Shouting!

Long ago you Alicelanders made it clear that you’re sick — do you hear me? — sick of commercials that blast you out of your chair while you’re trying to enjoy some low-volume drama TV. We’ve chewed over the ins and outs of the problem a couple of times, I think. Anyway, I happen to have tripped over a piece of angry legislation introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives by a very cheesed-off Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA). It’s labeled the Commercial Loudness Mitigation Act, and it empowers the FCC to enforce the mitigation of commercial loudness, I guess. The bill is creeping its way through the House, so if you want to give it a kick in the butt, contact your representative and express your outrage that advertisers are up to now allowed to run roughshod over our eardrums. This has been a public service ­announcement.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”
Next Article

At 4pm, this Farmer's Table restaurant in Chula Vista becomes Acqua e Farina

Brunch restaurant by day, Roman style trattoria by night
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader