left 1 kid of 4 in shopping cart and driving off, realized baby was missing after 40 minutes

[Lancero]

15. I love the number of people piling on to crap over this woman for daring to have kids.

To all the people saying "TO MANY KIDS!', well... Her body, her choice.

That said, if you've ever forgotten something - ANYTHING - no matter how 'little', well congrats - You have the capability to forget a child as well. It's not to hard, really. People get into a specific routine, something little changes and - due to how the human brain is wired - that little change doesn't register and your brain goes back to the routine. In this case, put kids 1,2 and 3 in car, load groceries, put cart in up, grab baby 4. In this case, she parked in a diffrient spot - a little change - and her brain continued to follow the routine - kids 1, 2 and 3, load car, but wait - She doesn't walk over to put the cart away this time, so when she gets back to the car her brain has skipped that step and, because the routine is to grab kid 4 when putting the cart away, when she found herself in front of the car her brain told her 'ok, routine done - go home now'.

Of course, some people haven't bothered reading up on how the brain handles routine tasks so they tend to go with the emotional, burn the evil woman in fire, response rather then the logical, I understand how this can happen but thankfully everything turned out ok, route.

Edit - http://www.parents.com/baby/safety/car/danger-of-hot-car-for-children/

But that isn't the only factor in heatstroke deaths, and safety experts stress that the backseat remains the safest place for children. Another major contributor, one that's more difficult to comprehend, relates to the brain. "These are not negligent parents who have forgotten their kids," says David Diamond, Ph.D., a neuroscientist in the psychology department at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, who has reviewed the details of many hot-car deaths and has spent time with dozens of parents who unintentionally left their child in the car.

Understanding what they did, he says, requires grasping how two very different parts of the brain work. There are the basal ganglia -- the "background system" that controls our habits. "It allows us to do things without thinking about them," Dr. Diamond says. When you're training in sports, for example, you repeat an action over and over to fine-tune your skills. Once it's time to compete, the action is automatic. "Your basal ganglia take over and you don't have to think about how to bounce or shoot the ball."

Then there are the parts of the brain that control new information: the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. The basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex essentially compete with each other, Dr. Diamond says. When you change up your routine and do something different, then the new details have to be processed by the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex to override the basal ganglia's strong desire to perform actions out of habit.

The basal ganglia play a big part in driving. "Once you've driven from Point A to Point B enough times, you can do it without thinking," Dr. Diamond says. "You might not even remember the trip." If new information enters the picture (say, your partner calls to ask you to stop at the store and buy milk), your prefrontal cortex and hippocampus have to kick into gear to incorporate it. "But it's common to drive right past the store and come home. When your partner says, 'Where's the milk?' you feel flustered because you remember the conversation, but for some reason you came home instead." Why? Because you were on autopilot. "The basal ganglia actually suppress the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus from bringing that memory to your consciousness," explains Dr. Diamond.

...It's one thing to forget a gallon of milk and quite another to forget a child? ... isn't it? Dr. Diamond has been challenged in this way many times. "As a parent I sympathize with that view," he says. "But as a scientist I can tell you that the basal ganglia can suppress all kinds of memories, even of things that are the most important to us."