TY - JOUR
T1 - Can Previews Mitigate the Effect of Interruptions? Findings from a Lab Experiment under Various Workloads
AU - Bolton, Frank John
AU - Te’eni, Dov
AU - Toch, Eran
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Human attention has become a critical resource for the effective design of smart services in which control may move back and forth between humans and computers. To avoid errors in critical conditions when the mental load is high, computer systems need to manage ongoing interruptions. In particular, the effect of interruptions can be mitigated with previews of computer-generated notifications. While previews have been used to increase engagement, research on their potential to mitigate the effect of interruptions is scarce. Using an experiment based on a game environment with varying task loads, we investigated the effect of previews on mitigating interruptions at several levels of mental load. We found interruptions that displayed previews added less to participants’ mental load but did not improve their overall performance. These results were consistent in all levels of task load. We summarize the article by discussing how previews can be designed to minimize the negative effects of interruptions.
AB - Human attention has become a critical resource for the effective design of smart services in which control may move back and forth between humans and computers. To avoid errors in critical conditions when the mental load is high, computer systems need to manage ongoing interruptions. In particular, the effect of interruptions can be mitigated with previews of computer-generated notifications. While previews have been used to increase engagement, research on their potential to mitigate the effect of interruptions is scarce. Using an experiment based on a game environment with varying task loads, we investigated the effect of previews on mitigating interruptions at several levels of mental load. We found interruptions that displayed previews added less to participants’ mental load but did not improve their overall performance. These results were consistent in all levels of task load. We summarize the article by discussing how previews can be designed to minimize the negative effects of interruptions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141148879&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10447318.2022.2137915
DO - 10.1080/10447318.2022.2137915
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AN - SCOPUS:85141148879
SN - 1044-7318
VL - 40
SP - 956
EP - 964
JO - International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
JF - International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
IS - 4
ER -