Daily memory lapses in older adults are primarily related to between-person differences in cognitive performance, health, and age awareness, rather than short-term daily fluctuations. These findings suggest that stable individual differences, rather than day-to-day changes, are most predictive of daily memory lapses. Day-to-day variations in memory lapses may instead be influenced by factors not captured in the present study, such as fatigue, stress, distraction, or mood.
Hülür et al. (Tue,) studied this question.