The Zeigarnik Effect in GUI Design

Bob Moll, Friday, May 26, 2006 @ 10:27 am

The Zeigarnik effect suggests people remember incomplete or interrupted things better than completed things. It’s human nature to want to complete a task or hear the end of a story, and when we don’t a psychological tension results until the item is completed.

The effect has an interesting implication for digital interfaces. When a user involved in a long task encounters an interruption or an opportunity to complete a quick task, there’s a good chance the interruption or new task will get acted on. This can leave a lineage of uncompleted tasks and non-linear navigation trails. 

One way to combat this that we have used in a variety of applications is to dynamically create a task queue. The queue stacks up incomplete tasks in one place so the user can get back to these tasks when he or she is ready. In a restricted domain, it’s usually possible to apply some intelligence as to how the queue is built so it reads fluidly and clearly.

user experience design

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