Once seen, the syndrome of transient global amnesia (TGA) is never forgotten. Patients abruptly discover that they are unable to recall recent events. Their perplexity is deepened by an inability to retain new information. This leads to repetitive but futile questioning of their companions. Attacks typically last about 4 hours. By the next day patients report that their memory is back to normal—with the exception of a dense amnesia for the attack itself.1 The paper by Eustache et al (this issue, pp 148–54) investigates the mechanism of this amnesia: is it due to failure to acquire, to store, or to retrieve information about events during the episode of TGA?

This work adds to an impressive body of recent research. Indeed, if …