Timecourse of recovery from task interruption: Data and a model
Open accessAbstract
Interruption of a complex cognitive task can entail, for the "interruptee", a sense of having to recover afterward. We examined this recovery process by measuring the timecourse of responses following an interruption, sampling over 13,000 interruptions to obtain stable data. Response times dropped in a smooth curvilinear pattern for the first 10 responses (15 sec or so) of postinterruption performance. We explain this pattern in terms of the cognitive system retrieving a displaced mental context from memory incrementally, with each retrieved element adding to the set of primes facilitating the next retrieval. The model explains a learning effect in our data in which the timecourse of recovery changes over blocks, and is generally consistent with current representational theories of expertise.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Memory-for-goals theory assumes that each task has an associated task goal, which is stored in declarative memory when an interruption occurs.
“Memory-for-goals theory explains these effects by assuming that each task has an associated task goal, which is stored in declarative memory when an interruption occurs [2,3].”
From What Makes Interruptions Disruptive?: A Process-Model Account of the Effects of the Problem State Bottleneck on Task Interruption and Resumption (2015) · cites this paper as [3]
The Modeling the Timecourse of Recovery section describes task representations that include goals and subgoals, and the Discussion describes retrieving a disrupted mental context after an interruption (pages unavailable in our copy). Neither passage says that each task has a single associated goal stored in declarative memory when the interruption occurs. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Toward a Theory of Situation Awareness in Dynamic Systems
Endsley, M. R. (1995) · Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1518/001872095779049543 · Cited by 8,875 · see citing works
Handbook of Competence and Motivation
Elliot, A. J., & Dweck, C. S. (2013) · Cited by 4,671 · see citing works
Ericsson, K. A., & Kintsch, W. (1995) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.102.2.211 · Cited by 3,498 · see citing works
An Integrated Theory of the Mind.
Anderson, J. R., Bothell, D., Byrne, M. D., Douglass, S., Lebiere, C. J., & Qin, Y. (2004) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.111.4.1036 · Cited by 3,048 · see citing works
Cognitive Skills and Their Acquisition
Anderson, J. R. (2013) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203728178 · Cited by 2,926 · see citing works
Anderson, J. R., Bower, G. H., & Bower, G. H. (2013) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203780831 · Cited by 2,031 · see citing works
Distribution-Free Statistical Tests
Bell, C. B. (1970) · Technometrics · doi:10.1080/00401706.1970.10488744 · Cited by 1,699 · see citing works
Mechanisms of skill acquisition and the law of practice
Newell, A., & Rosenbloom, P. S. (2018) · Figshare · doi:10.1184/r1/6607196 · Cited by 1,501 · see citing works
(1974) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7894(74)80111-5 · Cited by 1,429 · see citing works
Mechanisms of skill acquisition and the law of practice
Newell, A., & Rosenbloom, P. S. (2018) · Figshare · doi:10.1184/r1/6607199.v1 · Cited by 1,365 · see citing works
Distribution-Free Statistical Tests.
Gastwirth, J. L., & Bradley, J. V. (1969) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.2307/2283492 · Cited by 1,002 · see citing works
A diary study of task switching and interruptions
Czerwinski, M., Horvitz, E., & Wilhite, S. (2004) · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/985692.985715 · Cited by 830 · see citing works
Memory for goals: an activation-based model
Altmann, E. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2002) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1016/s0364-0213(01)00058-1 · Cited by 796 · see citing works
Self-citationMemory for goals: an activation‐based model
Altmann, E. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2002) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1207/s15516709cog2601_2 · Cited by 795 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Scope and Importance of Human Interruption in Human-Computer Interaction Design
McFarlane, D. C., & Latorella, K. A. (2002) · Human–Computer Interaction · doi:10.1207/s15327051hci1701_1 · Cited by 536 · see citing works
What makes interruptions disruptive? A study of length, similarity, and complexity
Gillie, T., & Broadbent, D. (1989) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/bf00309260 · Cited by 490 · see citing works
Trafton, J. G., Altmann, E. M., Brock, D. P., & Mintz, F. E. (2003) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/s1071-5819(03)00023-5 · Cited by 457 · see citing works
Self-citationSpeier, C., Vessey, I., & Valacich, J. S. (2003) · Decision Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1540-5414.2003.02292.x · Cited by 455 · see citing works
Temporal factors in mental work: Effects of interrupted activities
Zijlstra, F. R. H., Roe, R. A., Leonora, A. B., & Krediet, I. (1999) · Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1348/096317999166581 · Cited by 429 · see citing works
Chisholm, C. D., Dornfeld, A. M., Nelson, D. R., & Cordell, W. H. (2001) · Annals of Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1067/mem.2001.115440 · Cited by 332 · see citing works
Recovering From Interruptions: Implications for Driver Distraction Research
Monk, C. A., Boehm-Davis, D. A., Mason, G., & Trafton, J. G. (2004) · Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1518/hfes.46.4.650.56816 · Cited by 204 · see citing works
Self-citationIqbal, S. T., & Bailey, B. P. (2005) · CHI '05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1056808.1056948 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Interruption of the Tower of London task: Support for a goal-activation approach.
Hodgetts, H. M., & Jones, D. M. (2006) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.135.1.103 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Practice and retention: A unifying analysis.
Anderson, J. R., Fincham, J. M., & Douglass, S. (1999) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.25.5.1120 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Task Interruption and its Effects on Memory
Edwards, M. B., & Gronlund, S. D. (1998) · Memory · doi:10.1080/741943375 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Advance Preparation in Task Switching
Altmann, E. M. (2004) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00729.x · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Self-citationContextual cues aid recovery from interruption: the role of associative activation
Hodgetts, H. M., & Jones, D. M. (2006) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.32.5.1120 · Cited by 116 · cited 4× · see citing works
“Planned comparisons on Position 1 RTs (Figure 2) revealed no benefit for the perception-enabled condition over the perception-disabled condition ( p � .275), unlike the finding by Hodgetts and Jones (2006a) ; their task environment was quite different, such that the functional significance of perceptual cues could con…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialSurviving task interruptions: Investigating the implications of long-term working memory theory
Oulasvirta, A., & Saariluoma, P. O. (2006) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2006.04.006 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Brock, D., Stroup, J. L., & Ballas, J. A. (2002) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/154193120204601709 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Cognitive Representation of Common Ground in User Interfaces
Brock, D., & Trafton, J. G. (1999) · Courses and lectures · doi:10.1007/978-3-7091-2490-1_28 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 32 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- [13]13. Swets, B. (2006). "Where was I?": A psycholinguistic investigation of conversational interruptions. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
- [14]14. Thomson, C. (2005, October 16). Meet the life hackers. New York Times Magazine, pp. 40-45.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
An integrated model of cognitive control in task switching.
Altmann, E. M., & Gray, W. D. (2008) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.115.3.602 · Cited by 298 · see citing works
Self-citationThe effect of interruption duration and demand on resuming suspended goals.
Monk, C. A., Trafton, J. G., & Boehm-Davis, D. A. (2008) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied · doi:10.1037/a0014402 · Cited by 296 · see citing works
“The present findings also added to a growing body of empirical evidence (e.g., Altmann & Trafton, 2007; Cades et al., 2007; Hodgetts & Jones, 2006a, 2006b; Li et al., 2006; Monk et al., 2004; Trafton et al., 2003) supporting the use of the memory for goals model (Altmann & Trafton, 2002) as a framework for studying in…”
MethodResultInfluentialSelf-citationSalvucci, D. D., Taatgen, N. A., & Borst, J. P. (2009) · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1518701.1518981 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
“In addition, the complexity of the memory chunks themselves may affect timing of recall: Altmann and Trafton [ 3 ] have recently posited that problem representations are retrieved from memory incrementally, one component at a time, leading to larger recall times for more complex representations.”
BackgroundMomentary interruptions can derail the train of thought.
Altmann, E. M., Trafton, J. G., & Hambrick, D. Z. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/a0030986 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
Self-citationACT-R/E: An Embodied Cognitive Architecture for Human-Robot Interaction
Trafton, J. G., Hiatt, L. M., Harrison, A. M., Tanborello, F., Khemlani, S., & Schultz, A. C. (2013) · Journal of Human-Robot Interaction · doi:10.5898/jhri.2.1.trafton · Cited by 236 · see citing works
“The theoretical approach we take is based on the memory for goals theory (Altmann & Trafton, 2002, 2007; Trafton, Altmann, Brock, & Mintz, 2003; Trafton et al., 2011).”
Self-citationPuranik, H. G., Koopman, J., & Vough, H. C. (2019) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206319887428 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
“…task goals decay from memory during a work interruption, leading to longer time for the resumption and completion of the interrupted task, more errors, and lower performance (e.g., Altmann et al., 2014; Altmann & Trafton, 2007; Cades et al., 2008; Hodgetts & Jones, 2006; Monk et al., 2008).”
BackgroundLi, S. Y. W., Magrabi, F., & Coiera, E. W. (2011) · Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association · doi:10.1136/amiajnl-2010-000024 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
Growing up multitasking: The costs and benefits for cognitive development
Courage, M. L., Bakhtiar, A., Fitzpatrick, C., Kenny, S., & Brandeau, K. (2015) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1016/j.dr.2014.12.002 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Borst, J. P., Taatgen, N. A., & van Rijn, H. (2015) · Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/2702123.2702156 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
“At the same time, it is also well known that interruptions are disruptive: it takes time to resume a task and more errors are made after an interruption [3,18,20,22,23,26,32,35,45].”
BackgroundLaying the Foundation for the Challenge–Hindrance Stressor Framework 2.0
Podsakoff, N. P., Freiburger, K. J., Podsakoff, P. M., & Rosen, C. C. (2023) · Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-080422-052147 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Baethge, A., Rigotti, T., & Roe, R. A. (2014) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2014.897943 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
“Such performance degradation does not necessarily happen at the end of a long period: In a laboratory study, it was observed to occur over the course of about an hour (Altmann & Trafton, 2007).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialThe problem state: A cognitive bottleneck in multitasking.
Borst, J. P., Taatgen, N. A., & van Rijn, H. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/a0018106 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
“The problem state construct is closely linked to mental states as used by Altmann and colleagues in their cognitive control model and memory for goals theories to explain task switching and task interruption behavior (Altmann & Gray, 2008; Altmann & Trafton, 2002, 2007 ).”
BackgroundInfluentialBoehm‐Davis, D. A., & Remington, R. W. (2009) · Accident Analysis & Prevention · doi:10.1016/j.aap.2009.06.029 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Brumby, D. P., Cox, A. L., Back, J., & Gould, S. J. J. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied · doi:10.1037/a0032696 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Resumption strategies for interrupted programming tasks
Parnin, C., & Rugaber, S. (2011) · Software Quality Journal · doi:10.1007/s11219-010-9104-9 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
“Similarly, interruption lag [3, 4] describes the time between when the user stop working on a task and when they begin addressing the interruption (e.”
BackgroundFailures Due to Interruptions or Distractions: A Review and a New Framework
Couffe, C., & Michael, G. A. (2017) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.5406/amerjpsyc.130.2.0163 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
“The duration of interruption is an important factor that influences resuming processes in terms of both speed and error generation (Altmann & Trafton, 2007).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialVlakveld, W. P., van Nes, N., Bruin, J. D., Vissers, L., & van der Kroft, M. (2018) · Transportation Research Part F Traffic Psychology and Behaviour · doi:10.1016/j.trf.2018.07.025 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Interruptions and Task Transitions: Understanding Their Characteristics, Processes, and Consequences
Leroy, S., Schmidt, A. M., & Madjar, N. Y. (2020) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/annals.2017.0146 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Li, S. Y. W., BLANDFORD, A. E., Cairns, P. A., & Young, R. M. (2008) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied · doi:10.1037/a0014397 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Leroy, S., & Glomb, T. M. (2018) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.2017.1184 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
A memory for goals model of sequence errors
Trafton, J. G., Altmann, E. M., & Ratwani, R. M. (2011) · Cognitive Systems Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2010.07.010 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
“In addition, each procedural step is associatively linked to the next step within the task hierarchy; thus, previously completed tasks are a source of associative activation ( Altmann & Trafton, 2007 ).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationThe Radiologist's Workflow Environment: Evaluation of Disruptors and Potential Implications
Yu, J. J., Kansagra, A. P., & Mongan, J. (2014) · Journal of the American College of Radiology · doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2013.12.026 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Werner, N. E., & Holden, R. J. (2015) · Applied Ergonomics · doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2015.05.010 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Unfulfilled goals interfere with tasks that require executive functions
Masicampo, E. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.10.011 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Do instant messaging interruptions help or hinder knowledge workers’ task performance?
Mansi, G. R., & Levy, Y. M. (2013) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2013.01.011 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Do Interruptions Affect Quality of Work?
Foroughi, C. K., Werner, N. E., Nelson, E. T., & Boehm‐Davis, D. A. (2014) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/0018720814531786 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
“In procedural tasks, overall disruption reduces as skill increases (Altmann & Trafton, 2007).”
BackgroundSpatial memory guides task resumption
Ratwani, R. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2008) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/13506280802025791 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“When resuming an interrupted task, there are often time costs associated with the resumption process (Altmann & Trafton, 2002, 2007; Hodgetts & Jones 2006a, 2006b); it takes people time to ‘‘gather their thoughts’’ to determine what they were doing before being interrupted.”
BackgroundSelf-citationThe Red-Line of Workload: Theory, Research, and Design
Grier, R. A., Wickens, C. D., KABER, D. B., Strayer, D. L., Boehm‐Davis, D. A., Trafton, J. G., & John, M. S. (2008) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/154193120805201811 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“Our theoretical perspective comes from the Memory for Goals theory (Altmann & Trafton, 2002, 2007), which suggests that goals are forgotten due to a combination of decay and lack of priming from environmental cues.”
BackgroundSelf-citationGartenberg, D., Breslow, L. A., McCurry, J. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2013) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/0018720813506223 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“MFG has since been used to explain the disruptive effects of a task interruption (Altmann & Trafton, 2007), and it has been used to explain sequence errors (Ratwani & Trafton, 2011; Trafton, Altmann, & Ratwani, 2011).”
MethodSelf-citationStaying Up to Speed: Four Design Principles for Maintaining and Recovering Situation Awareness
John, M. S., & Smallman, H. S. (2008) · Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making · doi:10.1518/155534308x284408 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“For example, Altmann and Trafton’s (2007) model builds on the ACT-R computational cognitive architecture to predict the retrieval of task goal information and task resumption times for static tasks.”
MethodLong-term memory and the control of attentional control
Mayr, U., Kuhns, D., & Hubbard, J. (2014) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2014.02.001 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Interruptions in Remote Work: a Resource-based Model of Work and Family Stress
Perry, S. J., Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. M., Wan, M., & Thompson, M. J. (2023) · Journal of Business and Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10869-022-09842-y · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“Upon returning to work, it takes more time and energy to resume focus, further preventing the employee from engaging in other enriching or replenishing activities (Altmann & Trafton, 2007).”
BackgroundMitigating disruptive effects of interruptions through training: What needs to be practiced?
Cades, D. M., Boehm‐Davis, D. A., Trafton, J. G., & Monk, C. A. (2011) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied · doi:10.1037/a0023497 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Self-citationSavoldelli, G. L., Thieblemont, J., Clergue, F., Waeber, J.-L., Forster, A., & Garnerin, P. (2010) · European Journal of Anaesthesiology · doi:10.1097/eja.0b013e328333de09 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
The effect of regulatory focus on attention residue and performance during interruptions
Leroy, S., & Schmidt, A. M. (2016) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.07.006 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Walter, S. R., Dunsmuir, W. T. M., & Westbrook, J. I. (2015) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2015.01.008 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“The effect of an interruption on reaction time has been shown to persist for a period after the interruption (Altmann and Trafton, 2007) and this is an obvious scenario in which lagged relationships could be modelled.”
BackgroundThe Effects of Multitasking on Operations Scheduling
Hall, N. G., Leung, J. Y. ‐., & Li, C. (2014) · Production and Operations Management · doi:10.1111/poms.12331 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
A Real-Time Eye Tracking System for Predicting and Preventing Postcompletion Errors
Ratwani, R. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2011) · Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/07370024.2011.601692 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“The logistic regression model used to predict postcompletion errors leverages two different theoretical frameworks, a specific theory of postcompletion error ( Byrne & Bovair, 1997 ) and a broader theory of goal memory ( Altmann & Trafton, 2002 , 2007 ).”
InfluentialSelf-citationCane, J. E., Cauchard, F., & Weger, U. (2012) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2012.656666 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Katidioti, I., & Taatgen, N. A. (2014) · Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/0018720813504216 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“The costs of interruptions can be explained by memory decay: The mental representation of an interrupted task becomes less available over time, leading to additional time requirements to either recall or reconstruct the interrupted task (Altmann & Trafton, 2007).”
BackgroundUnderstanding Emergency Medicine Physicians Multitasking Behaviors Around Interruptions
Fong, A., & Ratwani, R. M. (2018) · Academic Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1111/acem.13496 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Dealing With Task Interruptions in Complex Dynamic Environments
Tremblay, S., Vachon, F., Lafond, D., & Kramer, C. (2011) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/0018720811424896 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“Consistently, Altmann and Trafton (2007) demonstrated, in a static context, that interruption recovery typically unfolds over a series of postinterruption actions, with interaction time approaching baseline in a curvilinear fashion rather than instantaneously.”
BackgroundBackground sound impairs interruption recovery in dynamic task situations: procedural conflict?
Hodgetts, H. M., Vachon, F., & Tremblay, S. (2014) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.2952 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Chien, S.-Y. J., Lin, Y., Lee, P.-J., Han, S., Lewis, M., & Sycara, K. P. (2018) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2018.03.005 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“Therefore, providing aids to direct human’s attention to various conditions is important to help operators allocate attention to emergent tasks as well as to maintain efficient awareness of the original task (Altmann and Trafton, 2007; Goodrich et al., 2005).”
BackgroundDecision support and vulnerability to interruption in a dynamic multitasking environment
Hodgetts, H. M., Tremblay, S., Vallières, B. R., & Vachon, F. (2015) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2015.01.009 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“Of course a certain amount of ‘recovery’ must have occurred in order to decide on an immediate first action following interruption, but relying solely on resumption lag as a measure of interruption recovery may overlook the fact that this process persists beyond the first post-interruption action on a task (Altmann an…”
BackgroundTiming and relevance of secondary tasks impact multitasking performance
Dönmez, O., & Akbulut, Y. (2020) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2020.104078 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Brief Lags in Interrupted Sequential Performance: Evaluating a Model and Model Evaluation Method
Altmann, E. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2015) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2014.12.007 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
“Experience suggests that interruptions like this often lead to “where was I?” moments afterwards, and in fact interruptions generate substantial performance costs at the point where the interrupted task is resumed (e.g., Altmann and Trafton, 2007; Hodgetts and Jones, 2006; Monk et al., 2008).”
BackgroundSelf-citationRandmaa, M., Swenne, C. L., Mårtensson, G., Högberg, H., & Engström, M. (2016) · European Journal of Anaesthesiology · doi:10.1097/eja.0000000000000335 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Effects of interruption length on procedural errors
Altmann, E. M., Trafton, J. G., & Hambrick, D. Z. (2017) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied · doi:10.1037/xap0000117 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“In laboratory tasks, interruptions generally cause a time lag (e.g., Altmann & Trafton, 2007; Hodgetts & Jones, 2006; Monk, Boehm-Davis, & Trafton, 2004) or an increase in error rates (e.g., Altmann, Trafton, & Hambrick, 2014; Li, Blandford, Cairns, & Young, 2008) at the point of task resumption.”
BackgroundMethodSelf-citationChallenges in Measuring the Impact of Interruption on Patient Safety and Workflow Outcomes
Li, S. Y. W., Dunn, A. G., Coeira, E., & Magrabi, F. (2011) · Methods of Information in Medicine · doi:10.3414/me11-02-0003 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“This model formulation paper draws upon the general literature about interruption in psychology [6, 17–19] and human-computer interaction [13–16, 20– 25”
BackgroundAutomatic and continuous user task analysis via eye activity
Chen, S., Epps, J., & Chen, F. (2013) · ACM International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) · doi:10.1145/2449396.2449406 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“switching has often focused on the impact of interruption on users [2,7,9], and examined the more opportune moments for interruption [8,10].”
BackgroundAn Eye Movement Analysis of the Effect of Interruption Modality on Primary Task Resumption
Ratwani, R. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2010) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/0018720810374195 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
“…theory that has been applied to the interruptions paradigm and has accounted for several empirical findings (Hodgetts & Jones, 2006a, 2006b; Monk et al., 2004; Monk, Trafton, & Boehm-Davis, 2008) is an activation-based theory of goal memory, called memory for goals (Altmann & Trafton, 2002, 2007).”
MethodSelf-citationTemporal variability in human performance: A systematic literature review
Muhs, K., Karwowski, W., & Kern, D. (2017) · International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics · doi:10.1016/j.ergon.2017.10.002 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Knock, knock! who׳s there? Putting the user in control of managing interruptions
Grandhi, S. A., & Jones, Q. (2015) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2015.02.008 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“For example, Altmann and Trafton (2007) showed in a laboratory experiment that response time in a task dropped steadily in the first 15 seconds of the recovery process from an interruption, during which time people seem to incrementally bring back the necessary cognitive resources required to…”
BackgroundWhy are background telephone conversations distracting?
Marsh, J. E., Ljung, R., Jahncke, H., MacCutcheon, D., Pausch, F., Ball, L. J., & Vachon, F. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied · doi:10.1037/xap0000170 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
The Effect of Interruption Modality on Primary Task Resumption
Ratwani, R. M., Andrews, A. E., Sousk, J. D., & Trafton, J. G. (2008) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/154193120805200441 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Self-citationCades, D. M., Werner, N., Boehm-Davis, D. A., Trafton, J. G., & Monk, C. A. (2008) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/154193120805200442 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
“Comparing this measure across experimental conditions has been shown to accurately assess the amount of disruption caused by a given interruption ( Altmann & Trafton, 2007; Monk, Boehm-Davis, & Trafton, 2004; Ratwani et al., 2007).”
BackgroundSelf-citationResumption strategies for interrupted programming tasks
Parnin, C., & Rugaber, S. (2009) · 2009 IEEE 17th International Conference on Program Comprehension · doi:10.1109/icpc.2009.5090030 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning Explains Task Interleaving Behavior
Christoph, G., Oulasvirta, A., & Hilliges, O. (2020) · Computational Brain & Behavior · doi:10.1007/s42113-020-00093-9 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
A Generalized Model for Predicting Postcompletion Errors
Ratwani, R. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2009) · Topics in Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/j.1756-8765.2009.01070.x · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citationWork (Un)Interrupted: How Non-territorial Space Shapes Worker Control over Social Interaction
Gonsalves, L. (2023) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.2022.1649 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Getzmann, S., Reiser, J. E., Gajewski, P. D., Schneider, D. A., Karthaus, M., & Wascher, E. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1232344 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
“, 2021), its duration (Altmann and Trafton, 2007), and timing (Botvinick and Bylsma, 2005).”
BackgroundImproving the effectiveness of an interruption lag by inducing a memory-based strategy
Morgan, P. L., Patrick, J., & Tiley, L. (2012) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.09.003 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Examining the Effect of Interruptions at Different Breakpoints and Frequencies Within a Task
Powers, S. A., & Scerbo, M. W. (2021) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/00187208211009010 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“Additionally, the scope of task representation that must be recalled from memory can impact retrieval such that elements in a task hierarchy are retrieved incrementally (Altmann & Trafton, 2007).”
BackgroundThe Effect of Task Interruption on Working Memory Performance
Chen, Y.-Y., Fang, W., Bao, H., & Guo, B. (2022) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/00187208221139017 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“Therefore, it is necessary to understand the time course of recovery after task interruption (Altmann & Trafton, 2007).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialTuğtekin, U., & Odabaşı, H. F. (2023) · Education and Information Technologies · doi:10.1007/s10639-023-11813-6 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Because the time spent by participants in the virtual reality learning environment will be factored in the study, there is a possibility that the sequential multitasking technique (Altmann & Trafton, 2007 ) will manipulate these time-periods.”
BackgroundMorgan, P. L., & Patrick, J. (2012) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2012.702117 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Evaluating probe techniques and a situated theory of situation awareness.
Chiappe, D. L., Morgan, C., Kraut, J. M., Ziccardi, J., Sturre, L., Strybel, T. Z., & Vu, K. L. (2016) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied · doi:10.1037/xap0000097 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
A Sensor Technology Survey for a Stress-Aware Trading Process
Fernández, J., Augusto, J. C., Seepold, R., & Madrid, N. M. (2012) · IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics Part C (Applications and Reviews) · doi:10.1109/tsmcc.2011.2179028 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“If traders are attentive to the devices or the software to manage stress level, they are adding a continuous interruption to the trading process and recovering the concentration could cost several seconds [120], thus increasing the risk.”
BackgroundBuilding and Verifying a Predictive Model of Interruption Resumption
Trafton, J. G., Jacobs, A., & Harrison, A. M. (2012) · Proceedings of the IEEE · doi:10.1109/jproc.2011.2175149 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“First, the MFG theory we used to build the process model has traditionally been used to explain behavior and cognition on computer-based tasks [4], [8], [36]–[41].”
MethodSelf-citationParker, S. L., Pahor, K., den Broeck, A. V., & Zacher, H. (2024) · European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1080/1359432x.2024.2319904 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
“Many prior studies have demonstrated that resumption time, as well as time taken to complete an interrupted task, increases after being interrupted, as the interrupted task goals can decay from cognition (Altmann & Trafton, 2007).”
Forewarning interruptions in dynamic settings: Can prevention bolster recovery?
Labonté, K., Tremblay, S., & Vachon, F. (2019) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied · doi:10.1037/xap0000219 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Hirsch, P., Koch, I., & Grundgeiger, T. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-04760-2_4 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Zhang, C., Wei, D., Ji, Y., Chen, D., Li, X. Y., & Gong, X. D. (2025) · International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics · doi:10.1016/j.ergon.2025.103761 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Why is it so difficult to measure the effects of interruptions in healthcare?
Magrabi, F., Li, S. Y. W., Dunn, A. G., & Coiera, E. W. (2010) · Studies in health technology and informatics · doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-588-4-784 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“While there is solid evidence from psychology on the disruptive effects of interruption on human cognition [5], there is little evidence to date about the domain specific consequences of interruptions on clinical work.”
Pain catastrophizing moderates the effects of pain‐contingent task interruptions
Schrooten, M. G. S., Karsdorp, P. A., & Vlaeyen, J. W. S. (2013) · European Journal of Pain · doi:10.1002/j.1532-2149.2012.00276.x · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“, immediately after the interruption break (increased resumption time, decreased accuracy; Trafton et al., 2003; Monk et al., 2004; Hodgetts and Jones, 2006a,b; Altmann and Trafton, 2007).”
BackgroundInfluentialThe Fragile Movements of Late Modernity
Carrigan, M. (2016) · Social morphogenesis · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28439-2_9 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Central and Peripheral Cues to Difficulty in a Dynamic Task
Vangsness, L., & Young, M. E. (2018) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/0018720818809877 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Recovering from Interruptions: Does Alert Type Matter?
Andrews, A. E., Ratwani, R. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2009) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/154193120905300451 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citationBakdash, J. Z., & Drews, F. A. (2011) · Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries · doi:10.1002/hfm.20289 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
“Error-producing conditions, which are likely to result in cognitive deficits, include multitasking (Pashler, 2000), interruptions (Altmann & Trafton, 2007), fatigue or stress (Krueger, 1989), and others (see Drews, Musters, & Samore, 2008).”
BackgroundInterruption Management: A Review and Implications for IT Professionals
Liebowitz, J. (2010) · IT Professional · doi:10.1109/mitp.2010.118 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Effect of task interruption on the situation awareness of air traffic controllers
Zhou, K., Wang, C., Xie, S., Zhou, Y., Zhang, X., Wang, Y., & Tang, H. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0314183 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Explaining emergency physicians’ capacity to recover from interruptions
Falkland, E. C., Wiggins, M. W., Douglas, H., Sturman, D., Auton, J. C., Shieh, L. Y., & Westbrook, J. I. (2022) · Applied Ergonomics · doi:10.1016/j.apergo.2022.103857 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Salvucci, D. D., Monk, C. A., & Trafton, J. G. (2009) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/154193120905301208 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Self-citationThe effect of interruption on the decision-making process
Nicholas, C. A., & Cohen, A. L. (2016) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500004824 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
“Altmann and Trafton (2007) used a computer-based military data acquisition task and inteterrupted participants with a visual classification task. Speier, Valacich and Vessey (1999) asked participants to perform a production management problem, including scheduling workloads across machines, a facility location task, a…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialZhang, Y., Ou, D., Chen, C., Qu, G., Kang, S., & Zhan, M. (2023) · Building and Environment · doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110734 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Devoted but Disconnected: Managing Role Conflict Through Interactional Control
Conzon, V. M., & Huising, R. (2024) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.2019.13517 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Context-Aware Platform with User Availability Estimation and Light-Based Announcements
Bjelica, M. Z., Mrazovac, B., Papp, I. I., & Teslic, N. D. (2013) · IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics Systems · doi:10.1109/tsmc.2012.2235425 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“our multitasking spree, following which time is spent to get up to speed when the interruption is gone [6].”
BackgroundShrestha, R., Leinonen, J., Zavgorodniaia, A., Hellas, A., & Edwards, J. (2022) · IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering: Software Engineering Education and Training (ICSE-SEET) · doi:10.1145/3510456.3514146 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“According to Altmann and Trafton [4] and many others (for example, see [6, 22, 29]), the length of interruption correlates with the time of task resumption and numbers of possible errors.”
BackgroundIdentifying Interruption Clusters in the Emergency Department
Fong, A., Meadors, M. L., Batta, N., Nitzberg, M., Hettinger, A. Z., & Ratwani, R. M. (2014) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/1541931214581135 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
An Activation-Based Model of Routine Sequence Errors
Hiatt, L. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2015) · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Self-citationDesigning of multimodal feedback for enhanced multitasking performance
Kim, G., & Kim, H. C. (2011) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1978942.1979403 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Distractions and Interruptions in the Operating Room
Sevdalis, N., Arora, S., Undre, S., & Vincent, C. A. (2017) · CRC Press eBooks · doi:10.1201/9781315607436-24 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Human Error as an Emergent Property of Action Selection and Task Place-Holding
Tamborello, F. P., & Trafton, J. G. (2016) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1177/0018720816672529 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“This enabled associative chaining from the model’s current context to the next procedure step while also producing a graded representation that decreased in strength with increasing psychological distance, a feature borrowed from Altmann and Trafton (2007).”
BackgroundMethodSelf-citationSituation Awareness Reacquisition in a Supervisory Control Task
Gartenberg, D., McCurry, M., & Trafton, J. G. (2011) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/1071181311551073 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“It has since been used to interpret the time costs of interruptions (Altmann & Trafton, 2007) and the factors affecting sequence error (Trafton, Altmann, & Ratwani, 2009).”
MethodSelf-citationUncertainty Threat and Inhibition of Compensatory Behaviors: A Goal Conflict Management Perspective
Wichman, A. L., Brunner, R. P., & Weary, G. (2013) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298868.2013.775718 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“…Richardson-Klavehn, 2009), inhibition of negative emotions (Lévesque et al., 2003), task interruption effects on inhibition of subsequent responding (Altmann & Trafton, 2007), and even negative priming (Egner & Hirsch, 2005), in which responses to a previously-presented distracter item are…”
BackgroundConcept Analysis of the Work Interruption by Nurses
Yu, E.-J., Lee, E. N., Kim, J.-M., & Jun, H.-J. (2019) · Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration · doi:10.11111/jkana.2019.25.4.272 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Managing Interruptions in Healthcare
Ratwani, R. M., Hettinger, Z., Brixey, J. J., Rivera, A. J., & Colligan, L. (2014) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/1541931214581148 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“…on performance have demonstrated that interruptions increase the amount of time required to resume the primary task, the total time spent on the task, and likelihood of error (Altmann & Trafton, 2007; Li, Magrabi, & Coiera, 2011; Li, Blandford, Cairns, & Young, 2008; Ratwani & Trafton, 2011.).”
BackgroundJust a Quick Question? Relationships between Workplace Intrusions and Employee Outcomes
Fritz, C., Dalal, D. K., & Lin, B. C. (2020) · Occupational Health Science · doi:10.1007/s41542-020-00072-3 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Development and experimental evaluation of an alarm concept for an integrated surgical workstation
Schomakers, E.-M., Janß, A., Dell’Anna, J., Ziefle, M., & Radermacher, K. (2016) · Biomedizinische Technik/Biomedical Engineering · doi:10.1515/bmt-2015-0235 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Altmann, E. M., & Trafton, J. G.
- Affiliations
- Michigan State University (US)
- United States Naval Research Laboratory (US)
- Corresponding author
- Altmann, Erik M.
- ORCID
- Trafton, J. Gregory
- Venue
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
- Published
- 2007-12
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1079-1084
- ISSN
- 1069-9384 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-5320
- OpenAlex
- W2079184413
- Cited by
- 191
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 25.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Michigan State University
- College of Engineering, Michigan State University
- Office of Naval Research (N0001405WX30020, N00014-03-1-0063)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Personal Information Management and User Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- task interruption, reaction time (psychology), memory retrieval, priming, learning effects, expertise, cognitive task performance, recovery time course
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Computers, Humans, Memory, Models, Psychological, Reaction Time, Workplace, Video Games
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
