msu | Short interruptions – such as the few seconds it takes to silence
that buzzing smartphone – have a surprisingly large effect on one’s
ability to accurately complete a task, according to new research led by
Michigan State University.
The study, in which 300 people performed a sequence-based procedure
on a computer, found that interruptions of about three seconds doubled
the error rate.
Brief interruptions are ubiquitous in today’s society, from text
messages to a work colleague poking his head in the door and
interrupting an important conversation. But the ensuing errors can be
disastrous for professionals such as airplane mechanics and emergency
room doctors, said Erik Altmann, lead researcher on the study.
“What this means is that our health and safety is, on some level,
contingent on whether the people looking after it have been
interrupted,” said Altmann, MSU associate professor of psychology.
The study, funded by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research, is one
of the first to examine brief interruptions of relatively difficult
tasks. The findings appear in the Journal of Experimental Psychology:
General.
