[2] However, after the completion of the task — after everyone had paid — the waiter was unable to remember any more details of the orders.
Zeigarnik then designed a series of experiments to uncover the processes underlying the phenomenon.
[3] The advantage of remembrance can be explained by looking at Lewin's field theory: a task that has already been started establishes a task-specific tension, which improves cognitive accessibility of the relevant contents.
[5][6] Sportswriter Matt Moore has suggested that the Zeigarnik effect could explain the widespread criticism of the National Basketball Association in allowing free throws for a player "chucking it up whenever a guy comes near them".
[10] Several studies, performed later in other countries, attempting to replicate Zeigarnik's experiment, failed to find any significant differences in recall between "finished" and "unfinished" (interrupted) tasks, for example Van Bergen (1968).