{
  "title": "LOOPING manual source register",
  "version": "1.0",
  "review_date": "2026-09-17",
  "review_type": "Targeted evidence review; not a systematic review of the entire literature.",
  "scope": "Original papers and original systematic reviews/meta-analyses inspected via journals, PubMed/PMC or university repositories. Meta-analyses are secondary research, explicitly labelled as such.",
  "data_note": "This register contains source-level summaries, not raw participant data. It contains no private founder logs. No LOOPING clinical or effectiveness trial has been conducted.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "R1",
      "topic": "Progress monitoring",
      "citation": "Harkin, B., Webb, T. L., Chang, B. P. I., Prestwich, A., Conner, M., Kellar, I., Benn, Y., & Sheeran, P. (2016). Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 142(2), 198–229.",
      "doi": "10.1037/bul0000025",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26479070/",
      "design": "Meta-analysis of 138 randomized studies; 19,951 participants.",
      "finding": "Interventions that increased progress monitoring improved goal attainment on average: d = 0.40, 95% CI 0.32–0.48. Recording progress and reporting it were associated with stronger effects.",
      "limitations": "Mixed goals, populations and interventions. The pooled effect is not a percentage improvement, and it does not establish the efficacy of LOOPING or its scoring formula.",
      "product_implication": "Record a small amount of useful progress and review it. Keep sharing optional.",
      "safe_claim": "Research supports regularly recording progress toward a goal.",
      "verification": "Original research abstract verified through PubMed."
    },
    {
      "id": "R2",
      "topic": "Cue-based plans",
      "citation": "Gollwitzer, P. M., & Brandstätter, V. (1997). Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 186–199.",
      "doi": "10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.186",
      "url": "https://sparq.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj19021/files/media/file/gollwitzer_brandstatter_1997_-_implementation_intentions_effective_goal_pursuit.pdf",
      "design": "Three studies: one correlational and two experimental; university-student samples. Study 2 recruited 86 students.",
      "finding": "Specifying when and where to begin helped participants initiate intended actions. The experiments support going beyond a goal statement to a concrete action cue.",
      "limitations": "Short, specific tasks and largely student samples. Do not transfer the paper’s task-specific completion rates to app users or call the effect universal.",
      "product_implication": "Launch plan: “When [cue], at [place], I will [first visible action].” Include a fallback for unavailable cues.",
      "safe_claim": "A concrete cue and first action can help turn intentions into action.",
      "verification": "Full original paper verified from Stanford-hosted PDF."
    },
    {
      "id": "R3",
      "topic": "Real-world planning prompts",
      "citation": "Milkman, K. L., Beshears, J., Choi, J. J., Laibson, D., & Madrian, B. C. (2011). Using implementation intentions prompts to enhance influenza vaccination rates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(26), 10415–10420.",
      "doi": "10.1073/pnas.1103170108",
      "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3127912/",
      "design": "Three-arm randomized field trial; 3,272 employees offered workplace vaccination clinics.",
      "finding": "A date-and-time planning prompt increased vaccination by 4.2 percentage points after regression adjustment; 95% CI 0.5–7.8. A date-only prompt was not statistically significant in the full sample.",
      "limitations": "A single health behavior with a convenient free clinic. The numerical result is not a productivity-app forecast.",
      "product_implication": "Ask for a concrete start cue, time or place when helpful; avoid a vague “do it sometime” plan.",
      "safe_claim": "Specific planning prompts have improved follow-through in randomized field research.",
      "verification": "Original article, sample and Table 2 verified through PMC."
    },
    {
      "id": "R4",
      "topic": "Habit development",
      "citation": "Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009.",
      "doi": "10.1002/ejsp.674",
      "url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejsp.674",
      "design": "Twelve-week observational study; 96 volunteers; 82 supplied sufficient data; automaticity models fitted 62 people, with good fit for 39.",
      "finding": "Repeated behavior in a stable context was associated with increasing automaticity. Modelled time to 95% of the asymptote varied from 18 to 254 days. One missed opportunity did not materially alter formation.",
      "limitations": "Self-reported automaticity, selected simple behaviors and model extrapolation beyond the 84-day observation period. There is no universal habit deadline.",
      "product_implication": "Offer a repeatable cue and easy return after a missed day. Avoid streak loss or “21-day transformation” claims.",
      "safe_claim": "Habits can develop through repetition in a consistent context, at different rates for different people.",
      "verification": "Original publisher abstract verified; online publication 2009, journal issue 2010."
    },
    {
      "id": "R5",
      "topic": "Task-switching cost",
      "citation": "Rubinstein, J. S., Meyer, D. E., & Evans, J. E. (2001). Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27(4), 763–797.",
      "doi": "10.1037//0096-1523.27.4.763",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11518143/",
      "design": "Four laboratory experiments involving rule-based geometric classification and arithmetic tasks; sample counts not extracted.",
      "finding": "Alternating tasks incurred time costs. Costs increased with rule complexity and decreased when task cues were available.",
      "limitations": "Laboratory switching costs do not establish a fixed number of minutes lost in everyday work. Not all switching is harmful; necessary changes and restorative breaks differ.",
      "product_implication": "Keep one task visible, limit avoidable switches and record a clear next action before moving on.",
      "safe_claim": "Switching tasks can carry a cognitive cost; clear cues can help.",
      "verification": "Original research abstract verified through PubMed."
    },
    {
      "id": "R6",
      "topic": "Interrupted work and strain",
      "citation": "Mark, G., Gudith, D., & Klocke, U. (2008). The cost of interrupted work: More speed and stress. Proceedings of CHI 2008, 107–110.",
      "doi": "10.1145/1357054.1357072",
      "url": "https://ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08-mark.pdf",
      "design": "Controlled email-task experiment with 48 participants, mostly German university students.",
      "finding": "Interrupted participants compensated by working faster, while reporting greater stress, frustration, time pressure and effort. Same-topic interruptions were not clearly exempt.",
      "limitations": "Simulated office task and short exposure. This paper does not show that every interruption costs 23 minutes, nor that faster task completion is always better.",
      "product_implication": "Reduce unnecessary alerts. Treat strain as an outcome, not just completed-task count.",
      "safe_claim": "Interruptions can increase the effort and strain of getting work done.",
      "verification": "Original four-page paper verified from author’s university site."
    },
    {
      "id": "R7",
      "topic": "Phone notifications",
      "citation": "Stothart, C., Mitchum, A., & Yehnert, C. (2015). The attentional cost of receiving a cell phone notification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 41(4), 893–897.",
      "doi": "10.1037/xhp0000100",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26121498/",
      "design": "Controlled attention-task experiment with young adults; sample count not extracted from abstract.",
      "finding": "Receiving phone notifications disrupted performance even when participants did not interact with the device.",
      "limitations": "A specific experimental task. It does not establish that all notifications are harmful or that moving a phone alone treats attention difficulties.",
      "product_implication": "Provide a quiet, optional focus session; user controls notifications and exceptions.",
      "safe_claim": "Silencing unnecessary notifications can remove one source of distraction.",
      "verification": "Original research abstract verified through PubMed."
    },
    {
      "id": "R8",
      "topic": "Planning unfinished work",
      "citation": "Masicampo, E. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (2011). Consider it done! Plan making can eliminate the cognitive effects of unfulfilled goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(4), 667–683.",
      "doi": "10.1037/a0024192",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21688924/",
      "design": "Multiple laboratory studies activating unfinished goals; student/young-adult samples; exact pooled sample not extracted.",
      "finding": "Unfinished goals interfered with unrelated tasks; forming specific plans reduced the measured interference in the reported experiments.",
      "limitations": "Controlled tasks and goal activation. Does not prove that any to-do list eliminates worry or that the app’s exact shutdown timing is optimal.",
      "product_implication": "Tomorrow bridge: write where work stopped and the next physical action before closing.",
      "safe_claim": "Writing a specific plan for unfinished work may make it easier to set that work aside.",
      "verification": "Original research abstract verified through PubMed."
    },
    {
      "id": "R9",
      "topic": "Brief breaks",
      "citation": "Ariga, A., & Lleras, A. (2011). Brief and rare mental “breaks” keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements. Cognition, 118(3), 439–443.",
      "doi": "10.1016/j.cognition.2010.12.007",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21211793/",
      "design": "Laboratory vigilance experiment with an occasional digit-recollection task; sample count not extracted.",
      "finding": "Occasional brief changes in task demands prevented the decline in vigilance seen in comparison conditions.",
      "limitations": "Specific vigilance paradigm. It does not establish that 25/5, 50/10 or any other timer schedule is universally optimal.",
      "product_implication": "Allow flexible breaks and session lengths. Momentum means returning to useful work, not working without rest.",
      "safe_claim": "Brief breaks can help sustain attention in some tasks.",
      "verification": "Original research abstract verified through PubMed."
    },
    {
      "id": "R10",
      "topic": "Sleep and performance",
      "citation": "Van Dongen, H. P. A., Maislin, G., Mullington, J. M., & Dinges, D. F. (2003). The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness: Dose-response effects on neurobehavioral functions and sleep physiology from chronic sleep restriction and total sleep deprivation. Sleep, 26(2), 117–126.",
      "doi": "10.1093/sleep/26.2.117",
      "url": "https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article-abstract/26/2/117/2709164",
      "design": "Laboratory experiments with 48 healthy adults aged 21–38; 14 nights of 4, 6 or 8 hours in bed, or three nights of total deprivation.",
      "finding": "Repeated restriction to 4 or 6 hours in bed produced accumulating performance deficits. Subjective sleepiness did not fully track those accumulating deficits.",
      "limitations": "Time in bed differs from actual sleep; tightly controlled healthy-adult sample. The study does not set an individualized sleep prescription or validate consumer wearables.",
      "product_implication": "Protect rest; do not reward late-night work or sleep sacrifice. Let users record sleep as context.",
      "safe_claim": "Repeatedly cutting sleep can impair attention and performance even when the change feels manageable.",
      "verification": "Original publisher abstract verified."
    },
    {
      "id": "R11",
      "topic": "Bedtime writing",
      "citation": "Scullin, M. K., Krueger, M. L., Ballard, H. K., Pruett, N., & Bliwise, D. L. (2018). The effects of bedtime writing on difficulty falling asleep: A polysomnographic study comparing to-do lists and completed activity lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(1), 139–146.",
      "doi": "10.1037/xge0000374",
      "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5758411/",
      "design": "Randomized single-night sleep-laboratory study; final sample 57 healthy adults aged 18–30; five-minute writing task.",
      "finding": "The future to-do-list group fell asleep sooner than the completed-activities group: mean 15.82 versus 25.09 minutes; d = 0.63.",
      "limitations": "Small, single-night study; no no-writing control; healthy young sample. Not evidence that a 60-second app close improves sleep or treats insomnia.",
      "product_implication": "Offer a short tomorrow note as an optional closure tool, without promising a sleep benefit.",
      "safe_claim": "A small study suggests that writing tomorrow’s tasks down may help some people settle for sleep.",
      "verification": "Original article and Table 1 verified through PMC; online 2017, issue 2018."
    },
    {
      "id": "R12",
      "topic": "Time management and wellbeing",
      "citation": "Aeon, B., Faber, A., & Panaccio, A. (2021). Does time management work? A meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 16(1), e0245066.",
      "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0245066",
      "url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245066",
      "design": "Meta-analysis of 158 studies, 490 effect sizes and 53,957 participants, predominantly cross-sectional non-clinical samples.",
      "finding": "Time management showed moderate associations with performance and wellbeing. Associations with wellbeing were at least as important as performance associations.",
      "limitations": "Most studies were cross-sectional, interventions varied, and effects were heterogeneous. Association is not proof of causation. Resources and job constraints matter.",
      "product_implication": "Ask whether the routine improves usable time and reduces strain, not whether every day is maximally busy.",
      "safe_claim": "Planning time is associated with both performance and wellbeing; the right routine depends on context.",
      "verification": "Original open-access paper verified from publisher."
    },
    {
      "id": "R13",
      "topic": "Obstacles and action plans",
      "citation": "Wang, G., Wang, Y., & Gai, X. (2021). A meta-analysis of the effects of mental contrasting with implementation intentions on goal attainment. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 565202.",
      "doi": "10.3389/fpsyg.2021.565202",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.565202/full",
      "design": "Meta-analysis of 21 studies / 24 independent effects; 15,907 participants.",
      "finding": "Combining desired-outcome reflection, realistic obstacles and if–then planning had a small-to-medium pooled effect: g = 0.336, 95% CI 0.229–0.443. Trim-and-fill sensitivity estimate: 0.242.",
      "limitations": "Publication-bias indicators, relatively few studies, and large studies concentrated in one context. Not proof that imagining success causes success.",
      "product_implication": "Optional friction plan: desired result, likely obstacle, and a specific response.",
      "safe_claim": "Considering a likely obstacle and planning a response can support follow-through.",
      "verification": "Original publisher article and bias analysis verified."
    },
    {
      "id": "R14",
      "topic": "Response to failure",
      "citation": "Breines, J. G., & Chen, S. (2012). Self-compassion increases self-improvement motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(9), 1133-1143.",
      "doi": "10.1177/0146167212445599",
      "url": "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167212445599",
      "design": "Four experiments on reactions to personal weaknesses, moral transgressions and test failure.",
      "finding": "Self-compassion conditions supported improvement motivation and, in one experiment, time spent studying after failure.",
      "limitations": "Short-term experimental outcomes; no test of the LOOPING restart routine or lasting productivity gains.",
      "verification": "Original publisher abstract reviewed 17 September 2026."
    },
    {
      "id": "R15",
      "topic": "Learning techniques",
      "citation": "Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58.",
      "doi": "10.1177/1529100612453266",
      "url": "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1529100612453266",
      "design": "Research review comparing ten learning techniques across learners, materials and outcome measures.",
      "finding": "Practice testing and distributed practice received high utility assessments.",
      "limitations": "Secondary research on learning outcomes; task transfer varies and it does not validate proof counts or the entire app.",
      "verification": "Original publisher extended abstract reviewed 17 September 2026."
    }
  ],
  "public_claim": "LOOPING is a research-informed daily work routine for planning a clear start, protecting focused work, recording what happened and preparing the next start. The complete LOOPING system has not been independently validated."
}