Human behavior as automatons

Ovsianka effect

cognitive_bias behavior

Unfinished remembered tasks create tension and intrusive thoughts to continue said tasks. This can be used positively by creating small interruptions when studying. It should make things easier to remember. The downside is it will make it harder to switch off for the weekend. GTD style lists might make it easier to get temporal closure on tasks.

Scholarship

The Ovsiankina effect is the tendency to pick up an interrupted action again when it has still not been achieved. It is named after its researcher, Maria Ovsiankina.

The effect states that an interrupted task, even without incentive, values as a “quasi-need”. It creates intrusive thoughts, aimed at taking up the task again and possibly resulting into cognitive dissonance.

This can be explained by Kurt Lewin’s field theory which points that an interrupted action is a condition for a strained system. It also leads to a better remembering of the unfinished action over a vacant one (Zeigarnik effect).

Wikipedia

See also

The psychology of unfinished tasks- the Zeigarnik and Ovsiankina effects