Can memory blocks produce a Zeigarnik effect?

Abstract

Under the assumption that memory blocks are comparable to interrupted tasks since both are deemed to be uncompleted, a series of five experiments investigated if memory blocks would produce a Zeigarnik Effect--the better recall of uncompleted tasks. Questions constructed from a 24-28 stimulus item set (noun category and initial letter) were randomly presented to subjects who had to make a response within a fixed amount of time. If an answer was not produced, then the question was considered uncompleted. Examining item difficulty and completion of recalled items, the first three experiments showed two different patterns: better recall of uncompleted difficult items (Zeigarnik Effect) and better recall of completed easy items (an effect opposite to the Zeigarnik Effect). Experiments 4 and 5 controlled for item difficulty and the results yielded an effect opposite to the Zeigarnik Effect--better recall of completed questions. It was concluded that a higher rate of subsequent recall may have been due to the answers of completed questions acting as retrieval cues.