Research Design Connection: Reading, With Interruptions
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 …
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