You pull out the key to open the door to your house. You unlock the door and get inside. Then, several hours later, you are looking for the key and wondering where it is. And you discover that you have left it behind on the door. Or you go up to the copying machine, make a copy, pick it up and walk away, but leave the original behind. Has this happened to you? Are we just distracted, approaching senility, or is it the Zeigarnik effect.
Bluma Zeigarnik, a Russian psychologist and a student of prominent psychologist Kurt Lewin, went out for dinner with her friends at a restaurant in 1927. They had a lovely meal. They noted that their waiter had an amazing memory. As everybody placed their orders, he remembered every little detail of their meal orders without any notes. However, they had to return to the restaurant after finishing when Zeigarnik realized she had left her jacket behind. She came back, found the same waiter and asked him to help her find her jacket. She was shocked that the waiter with the amazing memory, whom she had just seen, did not even recognize her. This event started her research into how this was even possible.
What happened?
It got Zeigarnik thinking about the brain. Her early research then showed how our brain tends to work. In a series of simple tasks, half of which were interrupted, participants were asked to recall which tasks they had done. The first group recalled interrupted tasks 90% better than the ones they finished and a second group could recall interrupted tasks twice as well as the finished tasks. She posited that when a task is completed, our brain hits the ‘delete’ button and our short-term memory for that event gets wiped clean. Zeigarnik explained that because our short-term memory struggles with space to retain information, it keeps only the unfinished tasks alive. That is why the waiter at the restaurant remembered every little detail of their order but only until the bill was made.
Some postulate that it is the cognitive dissonance (the cognitive burden of the unfinished business that keeps us coming back). Kurt Lewin’s field theory suggests that the unfinished or incomplete action puts a strain or tension on our nervous system, which makes the task memorable and hence the return to completing it. Some research confirms the urge to complete an unfinished task if given time after the interruption.
That is not to say that there is no disagreement over the Zeigarnik effect. Some studies have not replicated the effect. Others have pointed out that stress and rumination associated with unfinished tasks may cause anxiety, impair sleep and emotional depletion. Zeigarnik indicated that other factors, such as reward expectancy, timing of the interruption, motivation to complete the task and participant fatigue, could influence the effect.
It has also been pointed out that the Zeigarnik effect might explain why, at the bank’s ATM, you are now required to pull your card out before collecting the cash. They know Zeigarnik will be at play and once you collect the cash, the task is finished and a good chance you will forget to take your card back.
It is something we can all put to good use. My wife and I have always liked watching serials in several languages at home. Usually, every episode ends with a frozen screen, teasing the viewer to wonder what happens later to entice you to come back and watch the next episode. There is no closure at the end of that episode, and partially, that is what brings us back. If there had been closure, chances are that we would have forgotten about it.
I have tried to use this effect in the last few years to see if it works on writing manuscripts or commentaries. I create a folder each time I have an idea and drop articles in it over time. Then, occasionally, I remember the idea and start writing a few paragraphs. I may pick up another folder a week later and resume a previous discussion. So, it goes on till the idea is ready to be edited. In the past, I may have worked on the same manuscripts/commentaries, but I lost concentration by looking at the same pages. The effect makes me aware of incomplete thoughts or ‘manuscripts’ waiting to be finished. I realize that with deadlines attached to some manuscripts, one may not have the luxury of letting things sit. Experts have suggested using this effect in everyday life, such as dealing with procrastination and improving study habits. Depending on the project, they suggest not resolving or finishing it in one fell swoop. That will bring you back the next day to writing it again. The incomplete thoughts keep bringing us back. The effect favors sequential task completion instead of simultaneous (multitasking).
I am not an expert in this area, but it works for me. It is also a great excuse for us lazy spouses. Leave tasks unfinished, claiming the Zeigarnik Effect, hoping the other spouse will finish them. The only problem is that I am concerned that I may forget what I was coming back for.
