Page:Freud - Psychopathology of everyday life.djvu/76

Psychopathology of Everyday Life the latter are plastic and visual, even in those people whose later memory lacks the visual element. The visual memory, therefore, preserves the type of the infantile recollections. Only my earliest childhood memories are of a visual character; they represent plastically depicted scenes, comparable only to stage settings.

In these scenes of childhood, whether they prove true or false, one usually sees his own childish person both in contour and dress. This circumstance must excite our wonder, for adults do not see their own persons in their recollections of later experiences. It is, moreover, against our experiences to assume that the child&rsquo;s attention during his experiences is centred on himself rather than exclusively on outside impressions. Various sources force us to assume that the so-called earliest childhood recollections are not true memory traces but later elaborations of the same, elaborations which might have been subjected to the influences of many later psychic forces. Thus the &ldquo;childhood reminiscences&rdquo; of individuals altogether advance to the signification of &ldquo;concealing memories,&rdquo; and thereby form a noteworthy analogy to the childhood reminiscences as laid down in the legends and myths of nations. 64