So, Where's The Car?

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 15, 1998 / 9:37 AM EST / CBS

You've fought the holiday traffic, maneuvered through the packed lot at the mall, and finally found a parking space. But will you be able to find your car again? In CBS This Morning's "holiday handbook," Correspondent Steve Hartman has some ideas on how to avoid trans-amnesia.

It's one thing to lose your keys. It's another to lose the whole darned automobile.

Every holiday season, it becomes an epidemic. Forgetfulness, trans-amnesia. Call it what you will, serious cases often require professional help.

Ask Debbie Tucker, a security guard at a shopping mall near Los Angeles. "They swear that the car is red, and the car is blue," she says. "We usually find a person who is totally panic-stricken, who is positive their car's been stolen."

Sylvia Contraris, found aimlessly roaming around the lot, is a classic case. Her best friend Maggie dutifully tagged along, looking for Sylvia's blue Dodge Caravan. Or is it purple?

Why does this happen to so many of us?

Dr. Jerry Jellison is a psychology professor at the University of Southern California: "The main reason is, you're distracted." He explains further: "There's a short-term process where you store it temporarily. Then for it to be remembered longer term, there's another process that we have to go through, and that's what people don't engage in."

To make the memory stick, Jellison says you should remember something about the spot where you entered the mall. Don't make it some person you saw near the door. He may go home before you. Make it a store.

Also, some people like to use balls and bows tied on the antenna, and all sorts of other gimmicks to help their car stand out.

Others would rather just pay somebody else, like a parking lot attendant, to remember for them.

General Motors has an option on some of its new cars now. You just call an 800 number and give them your security code, assuming you can remember that. Supposedly within seconds, using sophisticated satellite technology, they will help you find your car. Well, it was actually within minutes, but the horn did start honking to let me know where the car was hiding.

Sylvia Contraris hopes she won't need to resort to a satellite to help her find her car next time. I told her she should start by remembering it's blue.