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Breaks and task switches in prospective memory
Author(s) -
Finstad Kraig,
Bink Martin,
McDaniel Mark,
Einstein Gilles O.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.1223
Subject(s) - prospective memory , task (project management) , psychology , cognitive psychology , prospective cohort study , cognition , neuroscience , medicine , management , economics , surgery
Based on research showing that easing task demands improves prospective memory, we examined the effects of breaks and task switches on prospective memory. The first experiment suggested that people tend not to take advantage of breaks to improve prospective memory unless specifically instructed to do so. The next two experiments showed that both breaks and task switches interfered with prospective memory. The results indicate that work settings with frequent breaks and task switches may be especially susceptible to prospective memory failure. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.