Zeigarnik effect

noun

The effect that remembering something is easier if a study period is interrupted by other tasks.

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Meanings

nounZeigarnik effect (plural Zeigarnik effects)

plural Zeigarnik effects

  1. The effect that remembering something is easier if a study period is interrupted by other tasks.

Origin

After Bluma Zeigarnik, Soviet psychologist and psychiatrist (d. 1988), who studied the phenomenon.

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Cite this entry
APA

Zeigarnik effect. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zeigarnik%20effect

MLA

“Zeigarnik effect.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zeigarnik%20effect. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Zeigarnik effect,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zeigarnik%20effect.

Source: Zeigarnik effect on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.