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UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND INTERNSHIPS
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2008 Undergraduate Poster Session
2007 Undergraduate Poster Session

THE EFFECT OF INTERRUPTIONS ON TASK PERFORMANCE AND FLOW

Student: Lauren Costantino, Nicole Fiorentino, William Gentzsch, Jennifer Howley, Michael Jotco, Melissa Kostan and Adriana Morgan
Mentor: Professor Maureen Conard and Professor Robert Marsh
Major: Psychology

An experiment was designed to test the effects of external interruptions on task performance, perceptions of flow, motivation, and attention residue from interrupted work.  Validated scales were used when available to test relationships.  There were 164 participants (M age = 21, SD = 3.53).  Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: not interrupted, interrupted once for four minutes, or interrupted four times for one minute each, as they worked on a puzzle.  We examined differences among the groups in terms of time to complete the puzzle, performance on the interruption tasks, and attitudes towards their experimental conditions.

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