Our memory commits the seven sins known as transience, absent-mindedness, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias and persistence. Each of memory's sins is a nuisance at times, but it is also necessary for survival and, for that reason, has developed in us through evolution by natural selection. Schacter is a leading authority on the process in which memory traces are recorded and retrieved by the brain, and how they can be lost due to brain damage. That research was the subject of his earlier book Searching for Memory , the winner of several science literature awards. In The Seven Sins of Memory , Schacter writes in plain English without overly technical jargon.
Transience is the fading of memory with the passage of time.
It's a nuisance when you can't remember the name of a person whom you met last year. Take comfort in the fact that we would be in real trouble if memory wasn't transient. Imagine how confused you would be if a telephone number you looked up a moment ago were exactly as prominent in your mind as every number you have ever seen if your life. Evolution gave our memories transcience because our survival depends on it. When you're about to eat, you want the immediate location of your food to be in the forefront of your thoughts, rather than obscured by equally vivid images of every place in the world where you have ever seen food.