Online interruption effect on
cognitive performance
Eilat Chen Levy* Sheizaf Rafaeli* Yaron Ariel **
* Graduate School of Management & Sagy Center for Internet Research
University of Haifa
** Department of Communication, Yezreel Valley College
Conference, 5 - 7 March 2012, DHBW Mannheim
Presentation Outline

Research goals

Theoretical frameworks:
Media richness & interruptions concept

Research questions & assumptions

Research design

Results & conclusions
Research Goals
 Evaluating
media richness in new media
environment
 Examining
interruptions in the context of new
media
 Possible
influence of message richness on the
quality of cognitive performance
MRT Assumptions
Media differ in there richness
A medium’s richness is based on four criteria (Daft et al.,
1987):
Capacity to include personal focus
Immediacy of feedback
Conveyance of multiple cues
Variety of language carried
MRT Criticism

Focus on ‘message richness’ instead of ‘medium
richness’

Consequences of media convergence

Quality performance improves when medium richness
and the ability of the channel to carry information
matched (Daft et al.,1987)
Defining interruption
“an
externally generated, randomly occurring,
discrete event that breaks continuity of cognitive
focus on a primary task“
)Coraggio, 1990)
Questions & hypotheses
Can we correlate between time performance and online
advertising richness?
H1: A significant difference in time performance of
cognitive activity will be found between participants who
interrupted via 'poor' and 'rich' ads.
Can we correlate between quality performance and online
advertising richness?
H2: A significant difference will be found in the quality
performance between participants who interrupted via
'poor' and 'rich' ads.
Methodology
Experimental design
- post test only with control group

“Push” method
- transferring information to the participants as a tool
for creating an external interruption

144 participants where divided to 5 groups
- 4 groups where manipulated with different
interruptions (poor & rich) and different media (mobile
phone & www) Group #5, the control group - was not
interrupted

The sea trader
(computerized business game)
 Participants
experienced a simulation of purchasing
and selling goods
 Players
 The
goal was to make profits by decision making
game simulated a contest between players
 A prize
was offered to the player who achieved the
highest profits
 The
computer screen displayed a clock stopper & an
interrupted button
Screenshots
Experiment groups
Medium Type
www
Internet application
Mobile Phone
Text Banner
Text Message
(SMS)
Poor
Message
Message
Picture Message +
text
(MMS)
Rich
Richness
Picture Banner
Message
Rich & poor messages
online ads
A “Push” method as a tool for creating an external interruption
Time duration of simulation by
groups
 H1 is supported
[F(4)=3.79, p<0.01]
Does interruption made by rich message
lead to success in cognitive performance?
Level of success in cognitive performance:
1. MMS – multi media message
2. SMS – text message
Possible Explanation
3. No interruption
4. WWW – Picture Banner
5. WWW – Text Banner
Mark et al.)2008(
• Compensation
• faster
•Walther,(1995)
 H2 is supported
Message Richness Influence on Cognitive
Performance – Considering Time Factor
F(4)=2.27, p<0.05)

Results indicate a significant difference between
groups average time of fulfilling cognitive task
[F(4)=3.79, p<0.01].

Contrary to the assumption of the Media Richness
Theory, interruption of 'poor' ads (SMS/Text) leads
to a better performance.

Results indicate significant differences in cognitive
performance (F 4)=2.27, p<0.05) among groups, in
the above descending order: non interrupted group;
WWW text; SMS; WWW banner; MMS.
Conclusions
 Cognitive
performance (with no dependence on time) was
found higher in interrupted groups via rich message
followed by uninterrupted groups

The lowest cognitive performance was found in
interrupted groups via poor message
 Cognitive
performance considering time was found higher
in the uninterrupted group or in interrupted groups via
poor message compared with interrupted groups via rich
message
 Time
factor has an influence effect on Cognitive
performance
Eilat Chen Levy
Sheizaf Rafaeli
Yaron Ariel
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://rafaeli.net
[email protected]
http://yaronariel.com