Interruptions and Resumptions

Our focus has been on understanding, modeling, and improving the resumption process after being interrupted. We do this by building computational cognitive models, running experiments, collecting eye-tracking data, and building systems that help people resume after an interruption.

This area is closely linked to Predicting and Preventing Procedural Errors.

Primary References

Monk, C. M., Trafton, J. G., & Boehm-Davis, D. A. (2008). The Effect of Interruption Duration and Demand on Resuming Suspended Goals.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.  14(4), 299-313.  PDF

Altmann, E. M. & Trafton, J. G. (2007). Timecourse of Recovery from Task Interruption: Data and a Model. Psychonomics Bulletin and Review, 14(6), 1079-1084. PDF

Altmann, E. M. & Trafton, J. G. (2002). Memory for goals: An activation-based model. Cognitive Science. 26(1), 39-83.  PDF

Other Relevant References

Salvucci, D., Monk, C., & Trafton, J. G. (in press). A Process-Model Account of Task Interruption and Resumption: When Does Encoding of the Problem State Occur? Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 53rd Annual Meeting. PDF

Andrews, A. E., Ratwani, R. M., & Trafton, J. G. (in press). The Effect of Alert Type to an Interruption on Primary Task Resumption. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 53rd Annual Meeting. PDF

Ratwani, R. M., McCurry, J. M. & Trafton, J. G. (2008). Predicting post completion errors using eye movements. Computer Human Interaction 2008 (CHI 2008).  PDF

Ratwani, R. M. & Trafton, J. G. (2008).  Spatial memory guides task resumption.  Visual Cognition. 16(8), 1001-1010.  PDF

Trafton, J. G., & Monk, C. M. (2008). Task Interruptions. In D. A. Boehm-Davis (Ed.), Reviews of Human Factors and Ergonomics, Volume 3. PDF

Ratwani, R. M., Andrews, A. E., Sousk, J. D., & Trafton, J. G. (2008). The effect of interruption modality on primary task resumption. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 52nd Annual Meeting. PDF

Cades, D. M., Werner, N., Trafton, J. G., Boehm-Davis, D. A., & Monk, C. A. (2008). Dealing with Interruptions can be Complex, but does Interruption Complexity Matter: a Mental Resources Approach to Quantifying Disruptions. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 52nd Annual Meeting. PDF

Brudzinski, M. E., Ratwani, R. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2007). Goal and spatial memory following interruption. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference of Cognitive Modeling (ICCM).  PDF

Ratwani, R. M., Andrews, A., McCurry, M., & Trafton, J. G. (2007). Using Peripheral Processing and Spatial Memory to Facilitate Task Resumption. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 51st Annual Meeting.  PDF

Cades, D. M., Trafton, J. G., Boehm-Davis, D. A., & Monk, C. M. (2007). Does the Difficulty of an Interruption Affect our Ability to Resume? Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 51st Annual Meeting.  PDF

Ratwani, R. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2006). Now, where was I? Examining the Perceptual Processes while Resuming an Interrupted Task. The proceedings of the twenty-eighth annual conference of the cognitive science society. PDF

Ratwani, R. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2006). Helpful or harmful? Examining the effects of interruptions on task performance. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 50th Annual Meeting. PDF

Cades, D. M., Trafton, J. G., & Boehm-Davis, D. A. (2006). Mitigating Disruptions: Can Resuming an Interrupted Task Be Trained? Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 50th Annual Meeting. PDF

Trafton, J. G., Altmann, E. M., & Brock, D. P. (2005). Huh, what was I doing? How people use environmental cues after an interruption. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 49th Annual Meeting. PDF

Monk, C., Boehm-Davis, D. A., & Trafton, J. G. (2004). Recovering from Interruptions: Implications for Driver Distraction Research. Human Factors. 46(4), 650-663.  PDF

Altmann, E. M., & Trafton, J. G. (2004). Task interruption: Disruptive effects and the role of cues. The proceedings of the twenty-sixth annual conference of the cognitive science society. PDF

Trafton, J. G., Altmann, E. M., Brock, D. P., & Mintz, F. E. (2003). Preparing to resume an interrupted task: Effects of prospective goal encoding and retrospective rehearsal. International Journal of Human Computer Studies. 58(5), 582-602. PDF

Monk, C. M., Boehm-Davis, D. A., & Trafton, J. G. (2002). The attentional costs of interrupting task performance at various stages. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46th Annual Meeting.

Contact:
Greg Trafton

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