What are the implications of being distracted or interrupted while reading? Foroughi and his colleagues report that “to fully comprehend a text, individuals…need to do more than recognize or recall information that has been presented in the text at a later time. Reading comprehension often requires individuals to connect and synthesize information across a text (e.g., successfully identifying complex topics such as themes and tones) and not just make a familiarity-based decision (i.e., recognition) …Interruptions disrupted reading comprehension…but not recognition of information from the text.” These findings support the design of distraction-free work zones.
Cyrus Foroughi, Nicole Werner, Daniela Barragan, and Deborah Boehm-Davis. “Interruptions Disrupt Reading Comprehension.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, in press.
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.