It's a matter of (executive) load: Separation as a load-dependent resetting procedure.
Giorgia PonsiVanessa EraChiara FiniIlenia FalcinelliPublished in: The Behavioral and brain sciences (2021)
Lee and Schwarz made considerable theoretical advances in the psychology of cleansing by proposing that cleaning actions might serve as separation procedures between two psychological entities. Here, we propose that the effectiveness of the separation process may be modulated by the available amount of executive resources, and that separation may operate as a load-dependent resetting procedure.