"Two groups of subjects were given a series of jig-saw picture puzzles to solve. One of the groups was presented the tasks informally with the avowed purpose of helping the experimenter classify the puzzles for future use. The other group performed the same tasks formally as an 'intelligence test.' All subjects were permitted to finish half of the puzzles but were interrupted in each of the remaining half. They were then requested to name the problems which they had attempted." The first group "recalled the unfinished tasks better than the finished ones (19 remembered more unfinished than finished tasks, 7 did the opposite, while 4 showed no preponderant tendency). Undischarged tension associated with the incomplete tasks was presumably the basis for this effect. The individuals in the 'intelligence test' group, who were presumably motivated in the direction of ego-defense as well as need-presistence, recalled finished tasks more frequently than unfinished ones (17 remembered more finished than unfinished tasks, 8 did the opposite, while 5 showed no preponderant tendency). Here ego-defensive repression may, according to one interpretation, have been instrumental in the foregetting." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)