This type of error is called a "slip." Slips occur when we are "distracted or interrupted during the implementation of an automatic process--an activity that requires no conscious thought or effort--(Sternberg, Cognitive Psyhcology, p. 77). These slips occur relatively infrequently. Additionally, they occur by accident, or unintentionally. However, it is still important and interesting for us to know the reasons why they do occur at all. This particular type of slip is called a "loss-of-activation" error. Loss-of-activation, in this case forgetting what you went to get, can be caused by external disruptions, such as a phone call or barking dog, or internal disruptions, such as distracting thoughts. In this case, just having thought of the item that needed to be retrieved does not always ensure that that item is actually remembered and retrieved.
 

Generally, it is something in our environment (the original room, for example), that clues us in to what we needed or wanted. In cognitive psychology, these types of cues (situational, environmental) and the memory functions that go along with them, are controlled by the process of encoding specificity. That is, retrieval depends on the extent to which the retrieval cue matches the information available at encoding. In other words, memory for that item is cued by the degree to which the original environment serves as a prompt. An example would be sitting in your room and deciding that you want a soft drink. On your way to the kitchen, you pass a TV, which distracts your attention. Upon return (soda-less) to your room, the familiarity of this environment cues your memory for that soft drink.
 
 

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