research-article

Investigating interruptions in the context of computerised cognitive testing for older adults

Authors:

Matthew Brehmer,

Joanna McGrenere,

Charlotte Tang,

Claudia JacovaAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '12: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 2649 - 2658

https://doi.org/10.1145/2207676.2208656

Published: 05 May 2012 Publication History

Abstract

Interruptions in the home pose a threat to the validity of self-administered computerised cognitive testing. We report the findings of a laboratory experiment investigating the effects of increased interruption workload demand on older adults' computerised cognitive test performance. Related work has reported interruptions having a range of inhibitory and facilitatory effects on primary task performance. Cognitive ageing literature suggests that increased interruption workload demand should have greater detrimental effects on older adults' performance, when compared to younger adults. With 36 participants from 3 age groups (20-54, 55-69, 70+), we found divergent effects of increased interruption demand on two primary tasks. Results suggest that older and younger adults experience interruptions differently, but at no age is test performance compromised by demanding interruptions. This finding is reassuring with respect to the success of a self-administered computerised cognitive assessment test, and is likely to be useful for other applications used by older adults.

References

[1]

Altmann, E. M. & Trafton, J. G. Task interruption: Resumption lag & the role of cues. In Proc. Cognitive Science Society, 43--48, 2104.

[2]

Bailey, B. P., Konstan, J. A., & Carlis, J. V. Measuring the effects of interruptions on task performance in the user interface. In Systems, Man & Cybernetics, 757--762, 2000.

[3]

Brehmer, M. M. Usability and the effects of interruption in CTOC: Self-Administered Cognitive Testing on a Computer. M.Sc thesis. University of British Columbia, 2011.

[4]

Cabeza, R. Task-independent & Task-specific Age Effects on Brain Activity during Working Memory, Visual Attention and Episodic Retrieval. Cerebral Cortex, 14(4):364--375, 2004.

[5]

Clapp, W. C. & Gazzaley, A. Distinct mechanisms for the impact of distraction and interruption on working memory in aging. Neurobiology of Aging: 1--15, 2010, In Press.

[6]

Cohen, J. Eta-squared and partial eta-squared in communication science. Human Communication Research, 28:473--490, 1973.

[7]

Craik, F .I. M. & Byrd, M. Aging and cognitive deficits: The role of attentional resources, 19--222. In Craik, F. I. M. & Trehub, S. E. (eds.), Aging & Cognitive Processes. Plenum Press, 1982.

[8]

Craik, F. I. M. & Salthouse, T. A., Eds. The Handbook of Human Aging & Cognition. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 2nd edition, 1992.

[9]

De Renzi, E. & Vignolo, L. A. The token test: A sensitive test to detect receptive disturbances in aphasics. Brain: A Journal of Neurology 85: 665--678, 1962.

[10]

Dickinson, A., Arnott, J., & Prior. S. Methods for human-computer interaction research with older people. Behaviour & Information Technology 26(4):343--352, 2007.

Digital Library

[11]

Farrimond, S., Knight, R. G., & Titov, N. The effects of aging on remembering intentions: performance on a simulated shopping task. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20(4):533--555, 2006.

[12]

Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., & McHugh, P. R. Mini-Mental State: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12:189--198, 1975.

[13]

Gillie, T. & Broadbent, D. What makes interruptions disruptive? A study of length, similarity, and complexity. Psychological Research, 50(4):243--250, 1989.

[14]

Hart, S. G. & Staveland, L. E. Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of empirical and theoretical research, 139--183. In Hancock, P. & Meshkati, N. (Eds.). Advances in Human Psychology: Human Mental Workload. Elsevier Science, 1988.

[15]

Hasher, L. & Zacks, R. T. Working memory, comprehension, and aging: A review and a new view. Psychology of Learning & Motivation, 22:193--225, 1988.

[16]

Iqbal, S. T. & Bailey, B. P. Leveraging characteristics of task structure to predict the cost of interruption. In Proc. CHI, 741--750, 2006.

Digital Library

[17]

Iqbal, S. T. & Horvitz, E. Disruption and recovery of computing tasks: Field study, analysis, and directions. In Proc. CHI, 677--686, 2007.

Digital Library

[18]

Jacova, C., Lee H. S., Le Huray, S., McGrenere, J., Beattie, B. L., Feldman, H., and Hsiung G-Y. R. Cognitive Testing on Computer (C-TOC): Designing a computerized test battery for evaluation of cognitive impairment with user and community health professional input. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 6(4):S317S318, 2010.

[19]

Monk, C. A., Trafton, J. G., & Boehm-Davis, D. A. The effect of interruption duration and demand on resuming suspended goals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 14(4):299--313, 2008.

[20]

Nasreddine, Z. S., Phillips, N. A., Bédirian, V., Charbonneau, S., Whitehead, V., Collin, I., Cummings, J. L., & Chertkow, H. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA: a brief screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 53(4):695--699, 2005.

[21]

O'Conaill, B. & Frohlich, D. Timespace in the workplace: Dealing with interruptions. In Proc. CHI, 262--263, 1995.

Digital Library

[22]

Oulasvirta, A. & Saariluoma, P. Surviving task interruptions: Investigating the implications of long-term working memory theory. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 64(10):941--961, 2006.

Digital Library

[23]

Owen, A. M., McMillan, K. M., Laird, A. R., & Bullmore, E. N-back working memory paradigm: a meta-analysis of normative functional neuroimaging studies. Human Brain Mapping, 25(1):46--59, 2005.

[24]

Salthouse, T. A. The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. Psychological Review, 103(3):403--428, 1996.

[25]

Speier, C., Vessey, I., & Valacich, J. S. The effects of interruptions, task complexity, and information presentation on computer-supported decision-making Performance. Decision Sciences, 34(4):771--797, 2003.

[26]

Storch, N. A. Does the user interface make interruptions disruptive? A study of interface style and form of interruption. Technical report, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Springfield, 1992.

[27]

Trafton, J. G., Altmann, E. M., Brock, D. P., & Mintz, F. E. Preparing to resume an interrupted task: effects of prospective goal encoding and retrospective rehearsal. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 58(5):583--603, 2003.

Digital Library

[28]

Uttl, B. North American Adult Reading Test: age norms, reliability, and validity. Clinical & Experimental Neuropsychology, 24(8):1123--1137, 2002.

[29]

Uttl, B. Transparent meta-analysis of prospective memory and aging. PloS ONE, 3(2):e1568 1--31, 2008.

[30]

Wasylyshyn, C., Verhaeghen, P., & Sliwinski, M. J. Aging and task switching: a meta-analysis. Psychology & Aging, 26(1):15--20, 2011.

[31]

Wobbrock, J. O., Findlater, L., Gergle, D., & Higgins, J. J. The aligned rank transform for nonparametric factorial analyses using only ANOVA procedures. In Proc. CHI, 143--146, 2011.

Digital Library

[32]

Zeigarnik, B. Das behalten erledigter und unerledigter handlungen. Psychologische Forschung, 9:1--85, 1927.

[33]

Zijlstra, F. R. H., Roe, R. A., Leonora, A. B., & Krediet, I. Temporal factors in mental work: Effects of interrupted activities. Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology,72(2):163--185, 1999.

Cited By

Cho HKomar MLindlbauer D(2023)RealityReplayProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36108887:3(1-25)Online publication date: 27-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3610888
Kim SZhang KMcGrenere JBooth KJacova C(2020)A Comparison of Touchscreen and Mouse for Real-World and Abstract Tasks with Older AdultsACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/341805713:4(1-26)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3418057
Kiani KCui GBunt AMcGrenere JChilana PBrewster SFitzpatrick GCox AKostakos V(2019)Beyond "One-Size-Fits-All"Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300570(1-14)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300570
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Investigating interruptions in the context of computerised cognitive testing for older adults
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

Recommendations

Recruiting Older Adults in the Wild: Reflections on Challenges and Lessons Learned from Research Experience
PervasiveHealth '18: Proceedings of the 12th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare

It is important to understand the older adults prior to the design process. The understanding can better facilitate design conversations between the researchers and the older adults. In this paper, we discussed our experiences of building a relationship ...
App Usage Predicts Cognitive Ability in Older Adults
CHI '19: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

We have limited understanding of how older adults use smartphones, how their usage differs from younger users, and the causes for those differences. As a result, researchers and developers may miss promising opportunities to support older adults or offer ...
Older Adults' Digital Gameplay

Background. Empirical evidence suggests that digital gameplay can enhance social interaction and improve cognition for older adults. However, if digital games are to be effectively used as interventions to address age-related challenges, it is important ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '12: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 2012

3276 pages

ISBN:9781450310154

DOI:10.1145/2207676

General Chair:
Joseph A. Konstan
University of Minnesota
,
Program Chairs:
Ed H. Chi
Google
,
Kristina Höök
Mobile Life at KTH

Copyright © 2012 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 05 May 2012

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Conference

CHI '12

Sponsor:

SIGCHI

CHI '12: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 5 - 10, 2012

Texas, Austin, USA

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

Upcoming Conference

CHI 2025

Sponsor:
sigchi

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 26 - May 1, 2025

Yokohama , Japan

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

7
Total Citations
View Citations
432
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)13
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 03 Mar 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Cho HKomar MLindlbauer D(2023)RealityReplayProceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies10.1145/36108887:3(1-25)Online publication date: 27-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3610888
Kim SZhang KMcGrenere JBooth KJacova C(2020)A Comparison of Touchscreen and Mouse for Real-World and Abstract Tasks with Older AdultsACM Transactions on Accessible Computing10.1145/341805713:4(1-26)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3418057
Kiani KCui GBunt AMcGrenere JChilana PBrewster SFitzpatrick GCox AKostakos V(2019)Beyond "One-Size-Fits-All"Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300570(1-14)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300570
Janzen IVitale FMcGrenere JBatty CReilly D(2018)Control and Personalization:Younger versus Older Users' Experience of NotificationsProceedings of the 44th Graphics Interface Conference10.20380/GI2018.19(138-145)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.20380/GI2018.19
Lindlbauer DLilija KWalter RMüller JKaye JDruin ALampe CMorris DHourcade J(2016)Influence of Display Transparency on Background Awareness and Task PerformanceProceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/2858036.2858453(1705-1716)Online publication date: 7-May-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2858036.2858453
Pan MMcGrenere JCroft EMacLean K(2014)Exploring the Role of Haptic Feedback in Enabling Implicit HCI-Based BookmarkingIEEE Transactions on Haptics10.1109/TOH.2014.23091247:1(24-36)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TOH.2014.2309124
Tam DMacLean KMcGrenere JKuchenbecker KMackay WBrewster SBødker S(2013)The design and field observation of a haptic notification system for timing awareness during oral presentationsProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/2470654.2466223(1689-1698)Online publication date: 27-Apr-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2470654.2466223

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Figures

Tables

Media

View Table of Conten