Interventions to reduce the negative consequences of interruptions on task performance and individual differences in working memory capacity

• Published in: Applied cognitive psychology 2023-11, Vol.37 (6), p.1328-1340
• Main Authors: Zhang, Han, Kawashima, Tomoya, Shinohara, Kazumitsu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Individual differences; interruption onset management; Interruptions; Intervention; resumption; Short term memory; Task performance; working memory capacity
• ISSN: 0888-4080; 1099-0720
• DOI: 10.1002/acp.4126

The current study aimed to investigate whether individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) are associated with differences in the subsequent task performance and whether intervention (interruption onset management) can reduce the negative effects of interruption. Experiment 1 compared task performances before and after interruptions and examined their relationship with WMC. The findings suggested that individuals with high levels of WMC were able to recover more quickly to the same level of performance as prior to the interruption. In Experiment 2, we examined whether manipulating the intervention could mitigate the detrimental effects of the interruption. The results demonstrated that individuals with high levels of WMC made fewer errors after the interruption, which were reduced by interventions for both low‐ and high‐WMC groups. These results confirm that the impact of interruptions is proportional to differences in WMC, and interventions can reduce the negative impact of interruptions irrespective of WMC.