You suspect transitory thinking in a patient. Before revealing the answer, decide how you would assess for this.

Listen closely to spontaneous speech for sentences that begin on one topic and end, without explanation, on an unrelated one, noting whether grammar and sentence structure are disrupted at the point of transition. Distinguish this from a simple gap in attention by attending to the senseless, structurally disruptive quality of the interruption, rather than a mere pause or hesitation. Assess whether the disruption affects the constancy of individual thoughts specifically, rather than the broader continuity or organisation of the whole train of thinking, which would point toward a different pattern instead.