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Multitasking and monotasking: the effects of mental workload on deferred task interruptions

Authors:

Dario D. Salvucci,

Peter BogunovichAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '10: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 85 - 88

https://doi.org/10.1145/1753326.1753340

Published: 10 April 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Recent research has found that forced interruptions at points of higher mental workload are more disruptive than at points of lower workload. This paper investigates a complementary idea: when users experience deferrable interruptions at points of higher workload, they may tend to defer processing of the interruption until times of lower workload. In an experiment, users performed a mail-browser primary task while being occasionally interrupted by a secondary chat task, evenly distributed between points of higher and lower workload. Analysis showed that 94% of the time, users switched to the interrupting task during periods of lower workload, versus only 6% during periods of higher workload. The results suggest that when interruptions can be deferred, users have a strong tendency to ''monotask'' until primary-task mental workload has been minimized.

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Cited By

Pacailler MBall RHirst BScerbo M(2024)Not Right Now: Factors Affecting Interruption Decisions in a Healthcare ParadigmProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting10.1177/1071181324126299568:1(1685-1689)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/10711813241262995
Bahnsen KTiemann LPlabst LGrundgeiger T(2024)Augmented Reality Cues Facilitate Task Resumption after Interruptions in Computer-Based and Physical TasksProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642666(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642666
Lingler ATalypova DJokinen JOulasvirta AWintersberger P(2024)Supporting Task Switching with Reinforcement LearningProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642063(1-18)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642063
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Multitasking and monotasking: the effects of mental workload on deferred task interruptions
1. Computing methodologies
  1. Artificial intelligence
    1. Philosophical/theoretical foundations of artificial intelligence
      1. Cognitive science
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI theory, concepts and models
  2. Interaction design
    1. Interaction design theory, concepts and paradigms

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '10: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2010

2690 pages

ISBN:9781605589299

DOI:10.1145/1753326

General Chair:
Elizabeth Mynatt
Georgia Institute of Technology
,
Program Chairs:
Geraldine Fitzpatrick
Vienna University of Technology
,
Scott Hudson
Carnegie Mellon University
,
Keith Edwards
Georgia Tech
,
Tom Rodden
University of Nottingham

Copyright © 2010 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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New York, NY, United States

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Published: 10 April 2010

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CHI '10: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 10 - 15, 2010

Georgia, Atlanta, USA

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Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Citations

Cited By

Pacailler MBall RHirst BScerbo M(2024)Not Right Now: Factors Affecting Interruption Decisions in a Healthcare ParadigmProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting10.1177/1071181324126299568:1(1685-1689)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/10711813241262995
Bahnsen KTiemann LPlabst LGrundgeiger T(2024)Augmented Reality Cues Facilitate Task Resumption after Interruptions in Computer-Based and Physical TasksProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642666(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642666
Lingler ATalypova DJokinen JOulasvirta AWintersberger P(2024)Supporting Task Switching with Reinforcement LearningProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642063(1-18)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642063
Lenz LFender AChatain JHolz C(2024)Comparing Synchronous and Asynchronous Task Delivery in Mixed Reality EnvironmentsIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2024.337203430:5(2776-2784)Online publication date: 4-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TVCG.2024.3372034
Xu LGuo LGe PWang X(2024)Transition in Different Critical Situations: How Non-Driving Related Tasks Affect Drivers’ Physiological Response and Takeover Behavior After Partial Automation Silent FailuresIEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems10.1109/TITS.2024.343845025:11(16642-16652)Online publication date: Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/TITS.2024.3438450
Wiradhany WPócs ABaumgartner S(2024)Are Social Media Notifications Distracting?Experimental Psychology10.1027/1618-3169/a000625Online publication date: 18-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000625
Choi HJeong HKim G(2023)User Experience of Multi-Mode and Multitasked Extended Reality on Different Mobile Interaction PlatformsElectronics10.3390/electronics1206145712:6(1457)Online publication date: 19-Mar-2023
https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics12061457
Talypova DLingler AWintersberger P(2023)User-Centered Investigation of Features for Attention Management Systems in an Online Vignette StudyProceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia10.1145/3626705.3627766(108-121)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3626705.3627766
Guo LXu LGe PWang X(2023)How Resource Demands of Nondriving-Related Tasks and Engagement Time Affect Drivers’ Physiological Response and Takeover Performance in Conditional Automated DrivingIEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems10.1109/THMS.2023.326809553:3(600-609)Online publication date: Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/THMS.2023.3268095
Yu LChen YGong M(2023)The duality of ICT-mediated overload: Its nature and consequencesInformation & Management10.1016/j.im.2023.10386460:8(103864)Online publication date: Dec-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2023.103864
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