Some Thoughts On A Theory Of Consciousness

 We do not remember much from early childhood because we are, during that period, not fully conscious:  We are not able to encode our awareness and enter that code into memory.

As we age, the world of our perceptions begins to differentiate itself, things become distinct.  A green blob becomes a tree, which becomes a tree with leaves and a branches, which becomes a tree with fruit, which becomes a mango tree, which becomes a Chinese mango tree.  While the reader may never have seen a Chinese mango tree, they may still have a conception of a fruit tree, though their image may have leaves of a color and shape, and fruit of a different color and shape, than a Chinese mango tree.  And that last category of a "Chinese mango tree" may be mistaken, for what is remembered and classified as a Chinese mango tree, may in fact be otherwise classified as a Perie mango tree.

Perhaps what is called "consciousness" is basically codified memory.  In other words, what is conceived of a "present experience" is actually experience or awareness that has been codified and recalled.  Something like the stars, whose light is actually years old but is perceived now.

This explains the athletic experience that reacting in a sport is usually more effective than thinking about what should be the next move.  Though, to be truly effective, reaction must first be learned, recognized, and encoded and memorized.

One of the things that make theories of the this sort unsatisfactory is that these theories seem unable to satisfactorily account for the lack of a homunculus who will experience consciousness.

Thus there is the child's experience of object permanence.