For instance, persistence is one of the sins of memory that can lead to things like post traumatic stress syndrome.

The first three are described as sins of omission, since the result is a failure to recall an idea, fact, or event.

After three years, fewer than 30 percent remembered accurately, and nearly half had major errors.

Common errors of this type include misplacing keys or eyeglasses, or forgetting appointments.

Absentmindedness means here that the person's attention is focused on something different, and therefore misses part of the encoding.

Blocking is a primary cause of Tip of the tongue phenomenon (a temporary inaccessibility of stored information).

This error has profound consequences in legal systems because of its unacknowledged prevalence and the confidence which is often placed in the person's ability to impart correctly information critical to suspect identification.

One example Schacter gives[5] of eyewitness misattribution occurred in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

The remembrance can range from a blunder on the job to a truly traumatic experience, and the persistent recall can lead to formation of phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even suicide in particularly disturbing or intrusive instances.