A psychologist named Cynthia shared a personal experience with absentmindedness. While working on court-ordered evaluations, she used a valuable temporary ID card that had to be returned daily. One day, she received a distressing call that her daughter was sick and needed to be picked up from daycare. Distracted and concerned, she quickly finished her work and rushed to her daughter. Later, she could not recall whether she had returned her court ID. A call to the court confirmed she had, but her preoccupation with her daughter's health had caused a lapse in attention, preventing her from encoding the memory of returning the card.