Objective

The study aims to examine the effects of interruptions in major phases (i.e., problem-identification, alternative-development, and evaluation-and-selection) of complex decision-making tasks.

Background

The ability to make complex decisions is of increasing importance in workplaces. Complex decision-making involves a multistage process and is likely to be interrupted, given the ubiquitous prevalence of interruptions in workplaces today.

Method

Sixty participants were recruited for the experiment to complete a procurement task, which required them to define goals, search for alternatives, and consider multiple attributes of alternatives to make decisions. Participants in the three experimental conditions were interrupted to respond to messages during one of these three phases, whereas participants in the control condition were not interrupted. The impacts of interruptions on performance, mental workload, and emotional states were measured through a combination of behavioral, physiological, and subjective evaluations.

Results

Only participants who were interrupted in the evaluation-and-selection phase exhibited poorer task performance, despite their positive feelings toward interruptions and confidence. Participants who were interrupted in the problem-identification phase reported higher mental workload and more negative perceptions toward interruptions. Interruptions in the alternative-development phase led to more temporal changes in arousal and valence than interruptions in other phases.

Conclusion

Interruptions during the evaluation-and-selection phase undermine overall performance, and there is a discrepancy between behavioral outcomes and subjective perceptions of interruption effects.

Application

Interruptions should be avoided in the evaluation-and-selection phase in complex decision-making. This phase information can be either provided by users or inferred from coarse-grained interaction activities with decision-making information systems.

中文翻译：

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探索中断对复杂决策任务不同阶段的影响

客观的

该研究旨在检查中断在复杂决策任务的主要阶段（即问题识别、替代开发以及评估和选择）的影响。

背景

做出复杂决策的能力在工作场所变得越来越重要。考虑到当今工作场所普遍存在的中断现象，复杂的决策制定涉及一个多阶段过程，并且很可能会被打断。

方法

该实验招募了 60 名参与者来完成一项采购任务，这要求他们定义目标、寻找备选方案并考虑备选方案的多种属性以做出决策。三个实验条件下的参与者在这三个阶段中的一个阶段被打断以响应消息，而控制条件下的参与者没有被打断。通过结合行为、生理和主观评估来衡量中断对绩效、心理负荷和情绪状态的影响。

结果

只有在评估和选择阶段被打断的参与者表现出较差的任务表现，尽管他们对打扰和信心有积极的感受。在问题识别阶段被打扰的参与者报告了更高的精神负荷和对打扰的更多负面看法。与其他阶段的中断相比，替代发展阶段的中断导致唤醒和效价的时间变化更多。

结论

评估和选择阶段的中断会破坏整体性能，并且行为结果与中断效果的主观感知之间存在差异。

应用

在复杂决策的评估和选择阶段应避免中断。该阶段信息可以由用户提供，也可以从与决策信息系统的粗粒度交互活动中推断出来。