Definition
In psychology, the Zeigarnik effect occurs when an activity that has been interrupted may be more readily recalled. It postulates that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeigarnik_effect
The effect has two practical interpretations that pull in different directions — see the child notes.
See also
- Con la pratica i comportamenti si trasferiscono dal Sistema 2 al Sistema 1 — completed tasks that have become automatic are exactly what the Zeigarnik effect doesn’t apply to: once a task is fully internalised into System 1, there is nothing “unfinished” to hold in memory
- On the symbiosis of remembering, forgetting, and learning — the Zeigarnik effect is a retrieval strength phenomenon: unfinished tasks have high retrieval strength because they are still “active”; completed tasks lose retrieval strength as they are deactivated