Affective Interruptions Impair Task Performance Less Than Neutral Ones Across Age and Task Demands

ObjectiveThis study investigated how affective characteristics of interruptions (valence and arousal) influence task resumptions and post-interruption performance in younger and middle-aged/older adults under different task complexity.BackgroundInterruptions are pervasive in digital environments and often impair ongoing task performance. Although prior studies have emphasized the influence of task-related factors, the affective properties of interruptions remain understudied. Age-related differences in cognitive and emotional processing may further modulate the impacts of affective interruptions.MethodAcross three experiments (N = 179), younger and middle-aged/older participants performed simple and complex tasks that were interrupted by static images or short videos differing in valence and arousal. Behavioral outcomes included resumption lag, task completion time, and accuracy. Effects were synthesized using meta-analytic estimates across experiments.ResultsAffective (vs. neutral) interruptions resulted in longer resumption lags. However, they were also linked to higher post-interruption accuracy, and in some cases faster task speed. Speed advantages were most evident for high-arousal positive interruptions and primarily in middle-aged/older adults. Age differences were robust for overall interruption cost, but age did not change the direction of affective influences, though affective-neutral performance differences were larger in older adults.ConclusionAffective interruptions do not uniformly increase disruption. Despite longer resumption times, they are associated with relatively preserved or improved post-interruption accuracy compared with neutral interruptions, with conditional speed benefits for older adults.ApplicationDesigning interruptions with attention to affective properties may help reduce post-interrupt performance decrements, particularly for older users, while considering potential trade-offs in resumption time.