The DOI matches its Crossref record; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Persistence of “Past-Life” Memories in Adults Who, in Their Childhood, Claimed Memories of a Past Life
Abstract
This article tests the consistency and the continuation of alleged "past-life" memories from childhood into adulthood and the possible detrimental effects of such childhood memories on the development into adult life. Twenty-eight adults aged 28 to 56 years who had claimed to have memories of a past life when they were children were interviewed in Lebanon. Their memories had been recorded when they were children, at the mean age of 6 years. Of the 28 participants, 24 still reported some past-life memories, whereas 4 had forgotten everything. Twenty-one were sure that their memories were a continuation of their past-life memories in childhood, whereas three were unsure about it. For those who were sure of still having genuine past-life memories, the mean number of statements about the past life fell from 30, as children, to 4, as adults. Only half of the currently reported statements were reported when the participants were interviewed as children, raising the question of false and distorted memories. There were no indications that the past-life memories had a detrimental effect on the participants' development into adulthood. They were all leading normal active lives.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“The second study followed up with 27 Lebanese Druze adults of average age 40.3 (range: 28–56), on average 34 years after their initial interviews (Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012).”
From Impact of children’s purported past-life memories: a follow-up investigation of American cases (2024) · cites this paper as Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012
In the citing paper
“In both follow-up studies, however, a surprisingly high number of individuals who reported spontaneous PLMs as children (75% of Lebanese adults and 38% of Sri Lankan adults) claimed that they had retained some of their alleged memories.”
From Impact of children’s purported past-life memories: a follow-up investigation of American cases (2024) · cites this paper as Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012
In the citing paper
“Overall, however, adults in both studies seemed to lead normal, productive lives, and about half of them considered this childhood experience to have had a positive impact on their lives.”
From Impact of children’s purported past-life memories: a follow-up investigation of American cases (2024) · cites this paper as Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012
In the citing paper
“Across samples in both countries, a few participants reported that the alleged childhood PLMs had led to unpleasant experiences or difficulties.”
From Impact of children’s purported past-life memories: a follow-up investigation of American cases (2024) · cites this paper as Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012
In the citing paper
“The rate of reported negative impacts in this sample was slightly lower than that observed in the Lebanese sample (Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012)”
From Impact of children’s purported past-life memories: a follow-up investigation of American cases (2024) · cites this paper as Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012
In the citing paper
“The rate of self-reported remembrance of the alleged PLMs in this American sample was significantly lower than among Lebanese adults (Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012)”
From Impact of children’s purported past-life memories: a follow-up investigation of American cases (2024) · cites this paper as Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012
In the citing paper
“Overall, these findings are consistent with the previous follow-up studies in Lebanon and Sri Lanka that reported that adults with alleged childhood PLMs led normal lives (Haraldsson, 2008; Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012).”
From Impact of children’s purported past-life memories: a follow-up investigation of American cases (2024) · cites this paper as Haraldsson and Abu-Izzedin, 2012
Citations
Cites
Children who speak of past-life experiences: is there a psychological explanation?
Haraldsson, E. (2003) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1348/14760830260569256 · Cited by 49 · cited 3×
“However, this finding was not confirmed in a study in Lebanon (Haraldsson, 2003).”
BackgroundResultSelf-citationChildren´s reports of past-life memories: a review
Tucker, J. B. (2008) · EXPLORE · doi:10.1016/j.explore.2008.04.001 · Cited by 34
Research works printed but not linked: 19
- French, 2003, Fantastic memories. The relevance of research into eyewitness testimony and false memories for reports of anomalous experiences., J Conscious Stud, 10, 153
- Haraldsson, 1991, Children claiming past-life memories: Four cases in Sri Lanka., J Sci Exploration, 5, 233
- Haraldsson, 1995, Personality and abilities of children claiming previous-life memories., J Nerv Ment Dis, 183, 445, 10.1097/00005053-199507000-00004 · DOI · Paper page
- Haraldsson, 1997, Psychological comparison between ordinary children and those who claim previous-life memories., J Sci Exploration, 11, 323
- Haraldsson, 2000, Birthmarks and claims of previous life memories I. The case of Purnima Ekanayake., J Soc Psychical Res, 64, 16
- Haraldsson, 2008, Persistence of past-life memories. A study of persons who claimed in their childhood to remember a past life., J Sci Exploration, 22, 385
- Haraldsson, 2002, Development of certainty about the correct deceased person in a case of the reincarnation type in Lebanon: The case of Nazih Al-Danaf., J Sci Exploration, 16, 363
- Haraldsson, 2004, Three randomly selected Lebanese cases of children who claim memories of a previous life., J Soc Psychical Res, 86, 65
- Haraldsson, 2000, Psychological characteristics of children who speak of a previous life. A further field study in Sri Lanka., Transcult Psychiatry, 37, 525, 10.1177/136346150003700403 · DOI · Paper page
- Keil, 2005, Children who claim to remember previous lives: Cases with written records made before the previous personality was identified., J Sci Exploration, 19, 91
- Littlewood, 2001, Social institutions and psychological explanations: Druze reincarnation as a therapeutic resource., Br J Med Psychol, 74, 213, 10.1348/000711201160920 · DOI
- Mills, 1988, A preliminary investigation of reincarnation among the Beaver and Gitxsan Indians., Anthropologica, 30, 23, 10.2307/25605246 · DOI
- Mills, 2006, Back from death: Young adults in Northern India who as children were said to remember a previous life, with or without a shift in religion (Hindu to Moslem or vice versa)., Anthropol Humanism Q, 31, 141, 10.1525/ahu.2006.31.2.141 · DOI
- Mills, 1994, Replication studies of cases suggestive of reincarnation by three independent investigators., J Am Soc Psychical Res, 88, 207
- Pasricha, 2005, Some bodily malformations attributed to previous lives., J Sci Exploration, 19, 359
- Pasricha, 1987, Indian cases of the reincarnation type two generations apart., J Soc Psychical Res, 54, 239
- Stevenson, 1977, The explanatory value of the idea of reincarnation., J Nerv Ment Dis, 164, 305, 10.1097/00005053-197705000-00002 · DOI · Paper page
- Stevenson, 1983, American children who claim to remember previous lives., J Nerv Ment Dis, 171, 742, 10.1097/00005053-198312000-00006 · DOI
- Stevenson, 1990, Phobias in children who claim to remember previous lives., J Sci Exploration, 4, 243
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Impact of children’s purported past-life memories: a follow-up investigation of American cases
Pehlivanova, M., Cozzolino, P. J., & Tucker, J. B. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1473340 · Cited by 4
Metadata
- Authors
- Haraldsson, E., & Abu-Izzedin, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Iceland (IS)
- Corresponding author
- Haraldsson, Erlendur
- Venue
- Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease
- Published
- 2012-11
- Volume
- 200
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 985-989
- ISSN
- 0022-3018 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2139889274
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- past-life memories, childhood memories, memory persistence, memory continuity, false memory, memory distortion, child development, adult development
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Child, Child, Preschool, Cultural Characteristics, Family Relations, Fantasy, Fear, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Lebanon, Male, Middle Aged, Parapsychology, Perceptual Distortion, Personal Satisfaction, Phobic Disorders, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Repression, Psychology, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Memory, Episodic
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
