Pre-natal memories and fetal consciousness

Most developmental or personality theories still start at birth, either disregarding intrauterine life, or viewing it as a time of untroubled oceanic bliss that is only shortly interrupted by the quickly forgotten trauma of birth. According to Wade (1996) "fetal research [historically] focused only on physical development, because the structures for consciousness - and ways to measure it - were not thought to exist (Schindler 1988). This attitude has been slow to change, despite even popularly published medical research to the contrary over the past [thirty-five] years." (p.24)

Even though anecdotal evidence from around the world shows proof of often highly developed pre-natal consciousness, plausible physiological bases and its relationship to memory has been highly debated (Wade, 1996; Austermann, 2006). Wade (1996) defines "[m]emory [as] an integral part of conscious experience, binding moment-to-moment sense of awareness into a coherent pattern that provides the sense of personal continuity, the ongoing sense of self. (…) A subjective sense of self [then]… depends upon having a historically bound stream of consciousness and recognizing a stream of consciousness as uniquely one's own." (p.5)

When we compare different theories, consciousness can be divided into three categories: local, non-local, and transcendent or non-physical.

Local theories

They are the most researched and focus on consciousness as a function arising from the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). (Wade, 1996; Austermann, 2006; Steinemann, 2006) With regards to pre-natal development it is important to recognize that the development of the central nervous system does not start until day 16 to 19. The "limbic system [which is responsible for emotions, sensations, and behaviors necessary for survival] is partially mature at week four and fully formed by the third trimester" (Hartmann & Zimberoff, 2007, p.146). At week 24 the brain will already look like an adult's brain except that the surface area is still smooth; it is not until week 32 that the cerebral cortex is found operative (even though not yet fully functional).

As of this, very early traumatic experiences such as a dying twin before week nine, will only result in implicit procedural memory. This form of memory is not consciously verbal nor conceptual, but "viscerally imprinted" (ibid., p.147), without access to information about the context in which the trauma happened. Contextual understanding would require explicit or declarative memory which is not mature until around three years.

According to Hartman and Zimberoff (2007) "[i]t is important to realize that these memories and the resulting "knowledge" are not unconscious because of repression, defense, anxiety, or internal conflict. They are unconscious because the brain system encoding them works at a level of awareness below consciousness. Nevertheless, they exert a profound influence on behavior over a lifetime by initiating reflexive reactions, i.e. "repetition compulsion" or "recapitulation" of early patterns." (p.147)

Non-local memory theories

Another form of memory retention is proposed by non-local theories, which maintain that memory is stored all over the body. Candace Pert's (2003) recent research on neuropeptides and their receptors gives an explanation for psychosomatic conditions that may arise from in-utero trauma. She suggests that "[t]raumas caused by overwhelming emotion can be stored in a body part, thereafter affecting our ability to feel that part or even move it."(p. 141)

Pert also suggests that "emotional memories [as our earliest memories] are long term memories, stored where we need them, for survival" (Grodzki , N.D. p.3)

These outmoded reminiscents of our survival are literally stuck in our system and will repeat themselves until they are unfrozen, fully experienced and then successfully integrated when they are moved up into consciousness. (Levine, 1997) But how do we do this when there is no explicit memory available?

Transcendent or non-physical memory

A variety of publications on verifiable adult and children's memories of experiences in the womb (often obtained through regression, hypnosis, or other altered states) suggest that "memory may transcend conventional boundaries" (Wade, 1996, p.24). Besides the developing physical fetal consciousness which is able to react intelligently at very early stages of a pregnancy to events such as amniocentesis, a second, transcendent source of awareness is suggested to coexist with the bodily bound consciousness.

This consciousness is mature and able to witness and remember events from an in-utero and exterior stance (i.e. outside of mother). It is important to recognize that this non-physical consciousness is dualistic in nature and is not equaled with enlightenment consciousness or the oceanic undifferentiated state many theorists assume regression into the pre-natal period would create. (Wade, 1996; Austermann, 2006) Some authors such as James (2007), Austermann (2006), and Steinemann (2006) suggest it to be related to the Higher Self, or the soul.