Work interruptions have a greater impact on older people

August 29, 2022

In everyday working life, people are often interrupted in their tasks. After the phone has rung, for example, it is difficult to concentrate on the original task again. The selection of working memory content is impaired after an interruption. Observations show that the performance deficit after such task interruptions is often bigger in older people. With the help of EEG evaluations, researchers from the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors in Dortmund (IfADo) have studied attentional selection during the resumption of primary tasks in younger and older persons in more detail.

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New EEG evaluations show how attentional focusing works after interruptions in working memory

Nov 29, 2021

Interruptions at work often lead to a deterioration in performance in the original task. This performance deficit usually manifests itself in a delay in resuming the actual task. With the help of EEG measurements, researchers at the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors in Dortmund (IfADo) have now analysed working memory processes when switching between different tasks in more detail. They were able to show that interruptions lead to more errors, longer reaction times and more inaccurate working memory content.

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