Correct option is C
The correct answer is Option 3: The tendency to remember unfinished tasks longer than completed ones.
The Zeigarnik effect refers to the psychological phenomenon where individuals tend to remember unfinished or incomplete tasks better than tasks that have been completed. This effect was first observed by Bluma Zeigarnik in the 1920s.
Information Booster:
I. Sins of Omission (Forgetting Information)
These involve failure to recall memories when needed.
1. Transience (Forgetting Over Time)
Memory naturally weakens over time if it is not actively reinforced.
Example: Forgetting details of a childhood event.
Cause: Natural decay of neural connections when memories are not frequently recalled.
2. Absent-Mindedness (Lack of Attention)
Forgetting something due to divided attention or not encoding the information properly.
Example: Misplacing keys or forgetting an appointment.
Cause: Shallow encoding of information due to distraction or multitasking.
3. Blocking (Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon)
Temporary inability to retrieve stored information.
Example: Struggling to recall a person’s name even though you know it.
Cause: Interference from similar memories, making retrieval difficult.
II. Sins of Commission (Memory Distortions)
These involve incorrect or altered recollections.
4. Misattribution (Assigning Memory to the Wrong Source)
Remembering the correct information but attributing it to the wrong person, time, or place.
Example: Thinking you heard a fact from a friend, but actually reading it online.
Cause: Confusion between sources of information in memory.
5. Suggestibility (Influence of External Information)
Memory is altered by misleading information, questions, or external influences.
Example: Eyewitnesses changing their testimony after hearing misleading questions.
Cause: The brain incorporates false details into real memories.
6. Bias (Personal Beliefs Affect Memory)
Memory is distorted by current emotions, attitudes, or beliefs.
Example: Recalling past experiences as more negative or positive than they actually were.
Cause: Our present mindset alters how we reconstruct past events.
III. Persistence (Involuntary Recall of Unwanted Memories)
This is the inability to forget distressing or traumatic memories.
7. Persistence (Unwanted Recollections)
Recurring negative or traumatic memories that a person cannot control.
Example: Flashbacks in PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).
Cause: Strong emotional impact strengthens certain neural pathways, making it hard to forget.