No one likes interruption. We are born to seek balance and order. No matter what it is that you are doing, being interrupted involves a forceful stop midway and then having to re-enter your previous state, sometimes with great difficulty.
Popular belief has it that interruption breaks the flow of your thinking and affects productivity negatively, and so it is advisable that you have an uninterrupted session of intensive work before your next break.
However, a Russian psychologist, Bluma Zeigarnik, might tell you otherwise.
The connection between interruption and memory came to her attention when she was dining in a restaurant. She noticed how the waitresses had an amazing memory of the detailed orders yet to be paid for, but scarce memory of the orders that were already completed.
Back in her laboratory, she conducted studies in which subjects were required to complete various puzzles. Some of the subjects were interrupted during the tasks. All the subjects were then asked to describe what tasks they had done. It turns out that adults remembered the interrupted tasks 90% better than the completed tasks, and that children were even more likely to recall the uncompleted tasks. In other words, uncompleted tasks will stay on your mind until you finish them!
In comparison to tasks that were already finished and ones that we haven’t even started, half-done projects are given the priority in the mental to-do list our brains sketch out for us. Zeigarnik described this finding in her doctoral thesis (论文) in the late 1920s, which was later called Zeigarnik effect.
One possible explanation is that with interrupted tasks, we are desperate for their closure to reclaim a sense of balance. Finishing them also means that we can finally clear up the mental backlog (积压的工作) and give the space to more upcoming tasks.
Zeigarnik’s effect can be found everywhere, especially used in media and advertising. Have you ever wondered why cliffhangers work so well or why you just can’t get yourself to stop watching that series on Netflix?
Ernest Hemingway once said about writing a novel, “It is the wait until the next day that is hard to get through.” So next time, when you are interrupted, appreciate it and take advantage of it to promote your productivity.
32. What is a common practice to finish a task?
A.Working in a focused period. | B.Working with occasional breaks. |
C.Working with a stop midway. | D.Working in an interrupted session. |
33. What is the finding of the Zeigarnik’s experiment?
A.Interruption recalls details. | B.Interruption betters memory. |
C.Interruption disturbs balance. | D.Interruption reduces productivity. |
34. Which of the following is an example of the application of Zeigarnik’s effect?
A.Fashion shows. | B.Online news. |
C.Talk shows. | D.TV series. |
35. What is the possible reason behind Zeigarnik’s effect?
A.The desire for balance. | B.The physical backlog. |
C.The outside pressure. | D.The upcoming tasks. |