Abstract
Cyril Couffe and George A. Michael review interruption literature across HCI, cognitive psychology, and ergonomics — defining operational interruption, summarising attention and working-memory models, and proposing DETOUR for goal reactivation after distraction.
Couffe, C., & Michael, G. A. (2017). The American Journal of Psychology, 130(2), 163–181. DOI
Key findings
- Performance cost — Interruptions reliably reduce performance and increase distress as digital pace rises.
- Resumption gap — Recovery depends on reactivating task schemata and goals, not only interrupt duration.
- DETOUR framework — Integrates executive control and working memory into a testable resumption model.
Limits
Review synthesises heterogeneous paradigms — effect sizes vary by task domain and self-initiated versus external interrupts.
Application
When you open a side tab in minute one, treat it as an interruption event — log trigger and resumption cost before normalising the scatter. See Dispersion. Curated domain trail: Focus.