Framework · Behavioral science
Resumption cues (Ovsiankina, not Zeigarnik)
People tend to resume interrupted tasks, but the popular claim that unfinished tasks are remembered better did not hold up in a 2025 meta-analysis. Design "continue where you left off" states rather than cliffhangers. Resumption tendency B-; memory claim X.
Plain label: continue where you left offAlso known as: Zeigarnik effect, Ovsiankina effect, unfinished tasks
What holds. A 2025 meta-analysis found no general memory advantage for unfinished tasks Evidence grade X. Contested: the evidence conflicts or failed to replicate., but it did find a general tendency to resume interrupted ones Evidence grade B. Moderate evidence: solid studies with some limits.. F12
How it plugs in. Saved drafts, a half-finished lesson on the home screen, a visible incomplete checklist (together with goal-gradient and endowed progress). Pair it with an investment that loads the next trigger.
Rule. Any recommendation phrased as a "Zeigarnik effect" is renamed a resumption cue and carries this grade.
Sources
Zeigarnik and Ovsiankina effects (meta-analysis) · Ghibellini and Meier, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 12, 2025
Evidence grade B. Moderate evidence: solid studies with some limits.
Source IDs: F12
Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.
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