Ovsiankina Effect

Scholarlypsychologywork

Etymology

Named for Maria Ovsiankina, a Soviet-born psychologist who documented it in a 1928 study under Kurt Lewin. Interrupted subjects spontaneously resumed their tasks; the mind seemed to hold an open loop until it was closed.

  1. noun phrase · /ov-see-AHN-kee-nuh ih-FEKT/

    The urge to pick up and finish a task once it has been interrupted.

    What it names

    Names that itch to return to an unfinished job — the pull of the incomplete, even when no one is making you.

    Example

    He only meant to glance at the half-built model, but the Ovsiankina effect had him tinkering for an hour.

    Related idea

    The Ovsiankina effect is about resuming an interrupted task; the closely related Zeigarnik effect is about remembering it better than a completed one.

See also

Flow (psychology)Zeigarnik effect