Can Previews Mitigate the Effect of Interruptions? Findings from a Lab Experiment under Various Workloads

Abstract

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.

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Prof. Joachim Meyer, and Dr. Edga Pasher for their thoughtful advise.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the EU FP7 Marie Curie Network iCareNet under Grant 264738.

Notes on contributors

Frank John Bolton

Frank John Bolton is a recent PhD graduate from Tel Aviv University where he was advised by Dov Te’eni and Eran Toch. He has researched interruptions management using thermal haptics, electroencephalography, and previews.

Dov Te’eni

Dov Te’eni is professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University. Dov studies visualization, feedback and knowledge sharing, combining human and machine intelligence. He co-authored Human–computer interaction for developing effective organizational systems and co-edited Encyclopedia of Knowledge Management. Dov was awarded the AIS Fellowship (2008) and LEO Lifetime Exceptional Achievement (2015).

Eran Toch

Eran Toch is a professor at the Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University and the head of the undergraduate program in Industrial Engineering and Management. He is the co-director of the IWiT Lab, which studies how human–computer interaction and machine learning can help people better manage their online experiences.