Editing Zeigarnik effect (section)

==Overview==
Lithuanian-Soviet psychologist [[Bluma Zeigarnik]] first studied the phenomenon after professor and [[Gestalt psychology|Gestalt]] psychologist [[Kurt Lewin]] noticed that a [[waiter]] had better recollections of still unpaid orders.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Koffka |first=Kurt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jmXvLim5DmEC |title=Principles of Gestalt Psychology |page=334ff |date=1935 |publisher=London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.|isbn=978-0-415-86881-5 |oclc=2314654 |language=en}}</ref> However, after the completion of the task — after everyone had paid — the waiter was unable to remember any more details of the orders. Zeigarnik then designed a series of experiments to uncover the processes underlying the phenomenon. The research report was published in 1927, in the journal ''[[Psychological Research|Psychologische Forschung]].''<ref name="ellis">{{cite journal |last=Zeigarnik |first=Bluma |year=1938 |title=Das Behalten erledigter und unerledigter Handlungen |trans-title=On Finished and Unfinished Tasks |url=https://interruptions.net/literature/Zeigarnik-PsychologischeForschung27.pdf |url-status=live |journal=[[Psychologische Forschung]] |volume=9 |pages=1–85 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224051001/https://interruptions.net/literature/Zeigarnik-PsychologischeForschung27.pdf |archive-date=24 December 2021 |lang=de}} pp. 300-314 in [[iarchive:in.ernet.dli.2015.198039|W. D. Ellis (Ed.), ''A Sourcebook of Gestalt Psychology'', London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.]]</ref>

The advantage of remembrance can be explained by looking at [[Field theory (psychology)|Lewin's field theory]]: a task that has already been started establishes a task-specific tension, which improves cognitive accessibility of the relevant contents.<ref name=Lewin1935>{{Cite book |last=Lewin |first=Kurt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JxlHAAAAMAAJ |title=A Dynamic Theory of Personality: Selected Papers |date=1935 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. |isbn=978-0-07-037451-5 |oclc=760465262 |page=243ff |language=en |author-link=Kurt Lewin}}</ref> The tension is relieved upon completion of the task, but persists if it is interrupted. Through continuous tension, the content is made more easily accessible, and can be easily remembered.<ref name=Lewin1935/>

The Zeigarnik effect suggests that students who suspend their study to perform unrelated activities (such as studying a different subject or playing a game), will remember material better than students who complete study sessions without a break (McKinney 1935; Zeigarnik 1927).<ref name="Bluma">{{Cite web |last=Zeigarnik |first=Bluma |title=Das Behalten erledigter und unerledigter Handlungen |trans-title=Remembering completed and uncompleted actions |lang=de |pages=300–314 |year=1927 |url=https://interruptions.net/literature/Zeigarnik-PsychologischeForschung27.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224051001/https://interruptions.net/literature/Zeigarnik-PsychologischeForschung27.pdf |archive-date=24 December 2021 }}</ref><ref name"McK">{{cite journal |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.66.8781&rep=rep1&type=pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505200606/https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.66.8781&rep=rep1&type=pdf |archive-date=5 May 2019 |last=McKinney |first=Fred |title=Studies in the Retention of Interrupted Learning Activities |journal=[[Journal of Comparative Psychology]] |volume=19 |number=2 |date=April 1935|pages=265–296|doi=10.1037/h0056005 |citeseerx=10.1.1.66.8781 }}</ref>