Copied here (and expanded) from where I originally posted it responding to Godot's complaint (on RationalWiki) about "cached thoughts"

It is now apparent that they should more accurately be called "habitual thoughts", thoughts that automatically re-occur in response to a particular stimulus. Except that "habit" is usually applied to behaviors rather than thoughts, it fits almost exactly the definition of habit, "Habits are response dispositions that are activated automatically by the context cues that co-occurred with responses during past performance."

Quote from abstract of David T. Neal, Wendy Wood, and Jeffrey M. Quinn. [2006] Habits—A Repeat Performance. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Volume 15, Number 4