From the moment we take our very first breath in this world, we are exposed to a series of sensations that become perceived information. These perceived experiences such as being held in our mother's arms - up to our first kiss all have some potential to transfer into contextual knowledge that is held in our memory. Being able to acknowledge and share the association of details such as place, time, and emotions with these chronological events is known as accessing autobiographical memory (Merzenech). Sigmund Freud being the first to recognize infantile amnesia gave fuel to the conceptual trend that autobiographical memory cannot necessarily be obtained by the child's conscious mind as it may by an adult. This concept is no longer accurate as modern theories and empirical data supported in Katherine Nelson's article suggest that children do indeed possess the potential to recall not only generic memory but also episodic memory (Katherine , 1993). .
From early childhood and through out the life span as representational language abilities develop, the ability to recall episodic memories specifically its subtype that is autobiographical memory is always present and becomes more apparent over time (Merzenech). Studies suggest that because autobiographical memory relies heavily on the development of human language, the continuous growth of linguistic ability from early childhood through young adulthood allows us to progressively construct communicative representation of our memories more adequately. Verbal language is a uniquely human trait, Nelson's article suggests through Dr. Endel Tulving's claim that, "autobiographical memory is a universally familiar experience. It is also a uniquely human one." (Katherine, 1993). Infants do not have to develop the ability to speak before they are considered human and do in fact posses representational abilities aside from language as suggested by psychologist Jerome Bruner (Mcleod).