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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 25, 2026

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Individual differences in visuo-spatial working memory capacity and prior knowledge during interrupted reading.

Francesca Zermiani¹, Prajit Dhar², Florian Strohm³

¹University of Stuttgart, Institute of Educational Science, Department of Teaching and Learning with Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany.

Frontiers in Cognition

|June 24, 2026

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Individual differences in visuo-spatial working memory capacity and prior knowledge significantly impact how quickly people resume reading after an interruption. This finding is crucial for understanding digital reading efficiency.

Keywords:

individual differences interruption prior knowledge reading resumption visuo-spatial working memory

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Last Updated: Jun 25, 2026

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

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Published on: July 16, 2015

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Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Assessing Working Memory in Children: The Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM)

Published on: June 12, 2017

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Human-Computer Interaction
Reading Comprehension

Background:

Interruptions are common in digital environments and necessitate task resumption.
Factors influencing the efficiency of resuming digital reading are not well understood.
Individual differences may play a role in managing reading interruptions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the influence of visuo-spatial working memory capacity (vsWMC) and prior knowledge on resumption lag times during interrupted digital reading.
To examine the interaction between vsWMC and prior knowledge in the context of task resumption.

Main Methods:

Utilized the InteRead dataset for digital reading tasks.
Assessed visuo-spatial working memory capacity (vsWMC) using the symmetry span (SSPAN) task.
Measured prior knowledge through a pre-test questionnaire.
Participants read a text, were interrupted multiple times, and their resumption lag times were recorded.

Main Results:

A significant interaction was found between vsWMC and prior knowledge in predicting resumption lag times.
Higher vsWMC and prior knowledge may facilitate faster task resumption.
Individual differences significantly modulate the cognitive effort required to return to a primary task after interruption.

Conclusions:

The interplay between cognitive capacity (vsWMC) and domain-specific knowledge is a key determinant of efficient task resumption.
Findings contribute to theoretical models of attention, working memory, and reading.
Implications for designing digital reading environments that minimize interruption-related cognitive load.