The Psychology of Unfinished Tasks: Why Open Loops Demand Closure

Have you ever found yourself unable to stop thinking about an unfinished project, an unanswered email, or that television series cliffhanger? This mental tug isn’t random—it’s a fundamental principle of human psychology at work. Our brains are wired to seek resolution, creating a powerful cognitive force that shapes everything from our daily productivity to our entertainment choices and emotional well-being.

1. The Unfinished Symphony: An Introduction to Open Loops

The Zeigarnik Effect: The Science Behind Remembering the Unresolved

In the 1920s, Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik made a fascinating discovery while observing waiters in a Vienna restaurant. She noticed that waiters could remember complex orders only until the meals had been delivered and paid for—after which the details vanished from their memory. This observation led to a series of experiments where participants were given simple tasks to complete, but were interrupted during half of them. The results were clear: people remembered interrupted tasks about 90% better than completed ones.

This phenomenon, now known as the Zeigarnik Effect, reveals that our brains maintain a heightened state of activation around unfinished tasks. The psychological tension created by an incomplete action creates a “cognitive itch” that demands scratching through completion. Neuroscientific research has since shown that unfinished goals remain more accessible in our memory networks, creating intrusive thoughts that distract us until we achieve resolution.

From To-Do Lists to Cliffhangers: Open Loops in Everyday Life

Open loops manifest throughout our daily experiences:

• The unanswered text message that lingers in your thoughts
• The partially completed work project that creates background anxiety
• The television season finale that leaves characters in peril
• The book placed down at a crucial narrative moment
• The unsolved problem that occupies your mental space during unrelated activities

Each of these represents an open loop—a psychological construct that remains active in our minds until we achieve some form of closure.

Why Our Brains Crave Completion

From an evolutionary perspective, our compulsion for completion served crucial survival functions. Our ancestors needed to remember unfinished tasks—where they had started building a shelter, which areas they hadn’t yet hunted, which food sources remained untapped. This cognitive bias ensured important activities weren’t abandoned.

Modern brain imaging studies show that goal pursuit activates specific neural pathways, particularly involving the prefrontal cortex. When we complete a task, this system receives a “reward” signal, releasing dopamine that creates a sense of satisfaction. Unfinished tasks keep this system activated, consuming mental energy until resolution occurs.

2. The Cognitive Itch: The Mental Toll of Unclosed Cycles

The Burden on Working Memory

Working memory—our brain’s temporary storage system—has limited capacity, typically holding only about 4-7 items at once. Unfinished tasks occupy valuable slots in this system, reducing our available cognitive resources for other activities. Research by psychologist E. J. Masicampo demonstrated that simply making a plan to complete a task can free up this cognitive space, even without actually completing the task.

The Subtle Drain of Background Anxiety

A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that participants who were interrupted during a task showed elevated stress levels and reported intrusive thoughts about the unfinished activity. This low-grade anxiety persists beneath conscious awareness, creating what psychologists call “psychic entropy”—a state of mental disorder that reduces our overall cognitive efficiency.

How Unfinished Tasks Hijack Our Focus

The Zeigarnik Effect ensures that unfinished business remains cognitively prominent, creating what attention researchers call “goal shielding.” This means our brains actively suppress competing goals to maintain focus on uncompleted tasks—even when we’re trying to concentrate on something else. This explains why you might struggle to focus on a meeting while thinking about the report you left unfinished on your desk.

3. The Pull of the Cliffhanger: Storytelling and the Art of Intentional Open Loops

The Narrative Tension that Keeps Us Reading and Watching

Storytellers have leveraged open loops for centuries. Charles Dickens published his novels in serialized form, often ending installments with characters in precarious situations. Modern television has perfected this art—the “next episode” autoplay feature on streaming services directly exploits our psychological need for closure. A study by the University of Kentucky found that 78% of viewers reported continuing to watch a series primarily due to unresolved narrative threads.

The Strategic Use of Open Loops in Marketing and Engagement

Marketers strategically create open loops to maintain engagement:

• Email series that promise upcoming valuable information
• Multi-part webinars that build toward a conclusion
• Limited-time offers that create urgency
• Serialized content that keeps audiences returning

These techniques work because they trigger the Zeigarnik Effect, making consumers more likely to remember the brand and continue engaging with the content.

The Fine Line Between Intrigue and Frustration

While open loops create engagement, they can backfire if resolution is delayed too long or never provided. Research in media psychology identifies an “optimal frustration point”—enough tension to maintain interest without causing audience abandonment. Successful storytellers and marketers provide periodic mini-resolutions while maintaining larger open loops.

4. From Tension to Triumph: The Psychology of Game Design and Closure

Defining the “Loop”: Quests, Levels, and Objectives

Game designers are master architects of open loops. They create structured systems of tension and release through:

• Micro-loops: Individual actions with immediate feedback (jumping over an obstacle)
• Meso-loops: Level completion or quest fulfillment
• Macro-loops: Overall game completion or achievement of major objectives

Each loop creates psychological tension that motivates continued play, with successful completion providing satisfying closure.

The Reward of Closure: Dopamine and the Sense of Accomplishment

When we complete a game objective, our brains release dopamine—the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. This neurochemical response reinforces the behavior, making us want to repeat the experience. Game designers carefully calibrate the difficulty-to-reward ratio to maintain engagement without causing frustration.

Case Study: Aviamasters – A Game of Aerial Resolution

The aviation-themed game play aviamasters provides a compelling example of open loop mechanics in action. The game creates a clear psychological tension through its central unresolved action: the plane’s unfinished journey.

The conditions for closure are precisely defined—successful landing on the ship provides satisfying resolution (win), while falling into the water represents failed closure (loss). This binary outcome creates a clean psychological loop that players seek to complete.

Interestingly, the game’s autoplay feature with customizable stop conditions