Hirsch Patricia, Moretti Luca, Leichtmann Benedikt, Koch Iring, Nitsch Verena
Institute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jan 15;15:1465323. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1465323. eCollection 2024.
Several studies showed that task interruptions at high mental workload moments are more harmful than task interruptions at low mental workload moments. In the present study, we used a theory-driven approach to define the mental workload during primary-task execution and to examine the effects of the interruption timing on primary-task performance.
Participants performed a primary task comprising a pre-defined sequence of six subtasks, with task interruptions occasionally occurring before the second, third, or fourth subtasks. Critically, the subtasks were organized either in two lag-2 repetition triplets or in two lag-2 switch triplets (e.g., B-B vs. B-A). This set-up allowed us to test two predictions about the effects of interruption timing on the resumption costs (i.e., the performance in subtasks following an interruption compared to the performance in the same subtask in non-interrupted primary tasks). First, we expected task interruptions before the fourth subtask being the less detrimental due to the presumed chunking of the six subtasks into two triplets. Second, in lag-2 switch triplets, task interruptions before the second and third subtasks were predicted to result in comparable resumption costs. In contrast, in lag-2 repetition triplets, task interruptions before the third subtask were hypothesized to be more disruptive than those before the second subtask. This is because the mental workload should be higher due to the need to overcome subtask inhibition.
We found an interruption-timing effect with higher resumption costs for task interruptions occurring before the third subtask compared to interruptions before the second and the fourth subtasks. However, this effect did not differ across lag-2 repetition sequences and lag-2 switch sequences.
These findings are discussed from a memory perspective and a context reconstruction perspective.
多项研究表明，在高脑力负荷时刻的任务中断比在低脑力负荷时刻的任务中断危害更大。在本研究中，我们采用了一种理论驱动的方法来定义主任务执行期间的脑力负荷，并研究中断时机对主任务绩效的影响。
参与者执行一项主任务，该任务由六个预定义的子任务序列组成，任务中断偶尔会在第二个、第三个或第四个子任务之前发生。至关重要的是，子任务被组织成两个滞后2重复三元组或两个滞后2切换三元组（例如，B-B与B-A）。这种设置使我们能够测试关于中断时机对恢复成本（即中断后子任务的绩效与未中断主任务中相同子任务的绩效相比）影响的两个预测。首先，我们预计在第四个子任务之前的任务中断危害较小，因为假定六个子任务被分成了两个三元组。其次，在滞后2切换三元组中，预计在第二个和第三个子任务之前的任务中断会导致相当的恢复成本。相比之下，在滞后2重复三元组中，假设在第三个子任务之前的任务中断比在第二个子任务之前的更具干扰性。这是因为由于需要克服子任务抑制，脑力负荷应该更高。
我们发现了一种中断时机效应，与在第二个和第四个子任务之前的中断相比，在第三个子任务之前发生的任务中断具有更高的恢复成本。然而，这种效应在滞后2重复序列和滞后2切换序列之间没有差异。
从记忆角度和情境重建角度对这些发现进行了讨论。
