Zeigarnik effect: a standalone construct

Bluma Zeigarnik, working in Kurt Lewin's Berlin laboratory, first reported in 1927 that people remember interrupted or unfinished tasks better than tasks they were allowed to complete, a pattern that came to carry her name. In her experiments participants worked through a series of short tasks, some of which were interrupted before completion, and afterward they recalled the interrupted tasks roughly twice as often as the finished ones. Zeigarnik explained the difference through Lewin's field theory: beginning a task creates a state of tension (a quasi-need) that keeps the task active in memory until completion discharges it, so an unfinished task stays more accessible. Later work refined the account, showing for example that simply making a concrete plan for how to finish an interrupted task can remove the memory advantage (Masicampo and Baumeister, 2011), which locates the driver in goal commitment rather than in interruption alone. As a landmark the effect ties memory, motivation, and goal pursuit into a single testable claim, and it is measured by comparing recall or recognition of interrupted against completed tasks, classically as the ratio of interrupted to completed items recalled.[1][2]

Unit

A memory-and-motivation phenomenon: the relative recall advantage of interrupted or unfinished tasks over completed ones

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Operationalised as the difference or ratio in later recall (or recognition) of interrupted versus completed tasks, the classic Zeigarnik quotient of interrupted to completed items recalled