Genetic memory (psychology)

For other uses, see Genetic memory (disambiguation).

In psychology, genetic memory (German: Erberinnerung) is a theorized phenomenon in which certain kinds of memories could be inherited, being present at birth in the absence of any associated sensory experience, and that such memories could be incorporated into the genome over long periods.

While theories about the inheritance of specific episodic memories have been thoroughly disproven, some researchers have theorized that more general associations formed by previous generations can pass from generation to generation through the genome. For instance, a study which suggested that mice may be able to inherit an association between certain smells and a neurological response formed by previous generations of mice, does fuel a debate over whether other forms of memory, in this case sensory, can be hereditary. Contemporary theories are based on the idea that the common experiences of a species can become incorporated into that species' genetic code, not by a Lamarckian process that encodes specific memories, but by a much vaguer tendency to encode a readiness to respond in certain ways to certain stimuli.

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