Memory Rehearsal Or Perceptual Encoding: The Research On The Psychological Mechanism Of Task Interruptions

An interruption is"[a]n externally generated,randomly occuring,discrete event that breaks continuity of cognitive focus on a primary task".A interruption process includes four key features:primary,interruption lag,secondary task and resumption lag.So far,the research on task interruptions almost focus on the issues that whether interruptions would disrupt the primary task's performance; how primary task's performance is affected by various characteristics of secondary task and primary task;and what effects would happened.Previous research has suggested that there are three cases on the influence of interruptions:negative,positive and mutative.These studies discussed it through controling the similarity and complexity of both primary task and secondary task,timing and frequency of secondary task,but they neglected how did the way interruptions was inserted impact primary task's resumption.Thus this researched design experiment one.We put the environmental cues of interruption lag into experimental design as a factor and combined it with primary task type in order to study whether interruptions would disrupt the primary task's resumption and how to insert secondary task to help to resume primary task.The results were as follows:⑴Whether in simple task or complex task,the average reaction time(RT) of interrupted primary task was significantly longer than primary task without interruption.⑵Warning condition had a higher disruption score than warning and cues condition.⑶For the average resumption lag of primary task,the main effect of environmental cues type was significant; the main effect of primary task type was significant;and the two factors did not interact.⑷For the accuracy of primary task's resumption, the main effect of environmental cues type was significant; the main effect of primary task type was not significant; and the two factors did not interact.These results shows that⑴I nterruptions were disruptive;⑵The disruptive effects were reflected in reaction time(RT) rather than accuracy;⑶Warning and cues condition had a shorter resumption lag.According to the review of previous studies,research on psychological mechanism of interruption lag were not much,and they were often proposed as a by-product of other studies. The related interpretative theories on psychological mechanism of interruption lag included memory-for-goals theory and long-term working memory theory.Although these viewpoints had different interpretations on psychological mechanism of interruption lag, they both recognized that interruption lag was important for primary task's resumption.This provided a theoretical premise for experiment two. On the basis of experiment one, experiment two explored the psychological mechanism of how did the interruption lag effecet on resumption lag(memory rehearsal or perceptual encoding),then revealed how did the preparation during interruption lag promote primary task's resumption. The results were as follows:For the average resumption lag of primary task,the main effect of environmental cues type was not significant while the main effect of interruption lag duration was significant,and the resumption lag in 8000ms interruption lag condition was significantly shorter than which in 2000ms interruption lag condition.This result was in line with perceptual encoding hypothesis,so we could conclude that interruption lag would effecet on primary task's resumption by perceptual encoding.This research used related experimental design to tentatively explore the psychological mechanism of interruption lag,but as a result of the restrictions of experimental design and materials,its external validity was low.Future research should focus on the following two points:in theory,deepening the research on the effect of task interruptions and its psychological mechanism;in practice,realizing the interdisciplinary cooperation with computer science to promote the research of task interruptions.