You remember unfinished tasks better than finished ones.
In the 1920s, psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik noticed that waiters could recall unpaid orders in detail but forgot them as soon as the bill was settled. Her experiments showed people remember interrupted tasks far better than completed ones.
Why is this true?
An open task keeps a kind of mental tension alive until it is closed. Cliffhangers in TV series and the nagging feeling of an unanswered message both work the same way.
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More about psychology
Psychology facts describe the shortcuts your mind takes without asking permission. We misjudge randomness, remember interrupted tasks better than finished ones, and change our answers when a group disagrees with us. The entries here stick to findings that have held up under replication, avoid the pop-science versions that overstate them, and explain what the effect really predicts about everyday behaviour.