The Zeigarnik Effect Myth

There have been many pop science articles talking about the Zeigarnik Effect and how you, dear reader, could use it to become a more *productive person. However, the research behind the effect is a lot more nuanced and interesting than you’d think. 

The Zeigarnik Effect’s premise is that we remember unfinished tasks more easily than tasks we completed. In other words, unfinished tasks linger in our minds, creating a sort of tension that sticks until resolved. It’s like cramming for an exam and completely forgetting everything the moment you leave the lecture hall, or being a waiter who remembers every detail of a table’s order until the bill is paid and the table is closed out. 

In light of this effect, it then stands to reason why so many articles go into the ways you could use it. Claims include:

However, these articles are all pointing to the wrong effect and for the incorrect reason.

Here’s the awkward truth: the Zeigarnik effect has NOT been reliably proven. Modern studies haven’t seen a consistent effect. Furthermore, a recent review article in Nature found that there was no reliable memory advantage for unfinished tasks. So what gives? Is this all a sham? Not exactly.

The real reason those “hacks” work is an even more ***obscure, far less-mentioned effect. 

Yeah, I know...another term to add to your trivia knowledge toolbox. I promise I’m bringing this up only because it’s relevant, and genuinely underpins many of the useful “productivity hacks” you may hear or read about. 

What it really is, is “the resumption effect” (all respect to Ovsiankina), because its premise is that once you start a task or activity, your brain really wants to go back and finish it. 

While the Zeigarnik effect has been hard to find robust proof for, researchers have found this Ovsiankinan inclination to hold across several studies. Though the task in question can be either boring or rewarding, the effect remains. 

So to go back over the tips from earlier, we now know why open loops work. Stopping when you still have momentum is self-induced interruption of a continuous task. The “two-minute rule” follows this same mechanism – once you start then stop, you’re way more likely to resume than if you had never started. 

The takeaway here is to just start. Just start. That’s what so many “hacks” have in common. They just frame the core principle in different contexts, be it writing, doing chores, performing work duties etc. Developing a bias for action can serve you if you notice you tend to struggle with this and the lovely thing is that behavior can be cultivated through conscious effort. I’ve seen it play out in my own life. 

I had a hell of a time getting to the point where I felt good about doing the dishes. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I LOVE doing them, but I feel way less resistant to the activity than I used to. I might make another post about what exactly I did to get to that point, but it bears mentioning that the hack I had of “just do one or two dishes and come back to them later” was super effective. 9 times out of 10, when I negotiated with myself to wash “one plate” or “one bowl” I ended up doing them all in one fell swoop. Zeigarnik would say I went back to the dishes because I remembered that I started them and knew it was unfinished. Ovsiankina would more accurately recognize that because the task itself was unfinished, the fact that I started is what keeps it easier for me to “resume” where I left off. 

The point of this all is that you’re not memorizing the several tasks and to-do items that you leave unfinished. Your brain isn’t magically categorizing them and storing them for safekeeping and then prompting you when it’s relevant. It’s that we have an inclination to return to open loops. This is why cliffhangers on your favorite show are so annoyingly compelling, or why a song snippet will get stuck in your head until you fully listen to it. And once you understand that it becomes easier to see how you can design your work and hobbies to propel you towards the type of life balance you want to have. Don’t wait for motivation to crack the pavement. Just get that first step. It’s okay if you don’t finish because at that point, your brain will naturally do what it does best–pull you back in. 

*After all, isn’t that what life is about? Being more productive?

**The author would like to take a moment to state that the 2-minute rule does not only apply to difficult things but to fun, work-breaks instead. What those fun activities are specifically, are left as an exercise for the reader to find out. 

***God, I love when this happens.