title: Effect of Redundant Haptic Information on Task Performance during Visuo-Tactile Task Interruption and Recovery.
abstract: Previous studies have revealed that interruption induces disruptive influences on the performance of cognitive tasks. While much research has focused on the use of multimodal channels to reduce the cost of interruption, few studies have utilized haptic information as more than an associative cue. In the present study, we utilized a multimodal task interruption scenario involving the simultaneous presentation of visual information and haptic stimuli in order to investigate how the combined stimuli affect performance on the primary task (cost of interruption). Participants were asked to perform a two-back visuo-tactile task, in which visual and haptic stimuli were presented simultaneously, which was interrupted by a secondary task that also utilized visual and haptic stimuli. Four experimental conditions were evaluated: (1) paired information (visual stimulus + paired haptic stimulus) with interruption; (2) paired information without interruption; (3) non-paired information (visual stimulus + non-paired haptic stimulus) with interruption; and (4) non-paired information without interruption. Our findings indicate that, within a visuo-tactile task environment, redundant haptic information may not only increase accuracy on the primary task but also reduce the cost of interruption in terms of accuracy. These results suggest a new way of understanding the task recovery process within a multimodal environment.
authors.affiliation: School of Integrated Technology, Yonsei UniversityIncheon, Korea; Yonsei Institute of Convergence Technology, Yonsei UniversityIncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hee-Seung
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.affiliation: Yonsei Institute of Convergence Technology, Yonsei University Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jongsoo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.affiliation: School of Integrated Technology, Yonsei UniversityIncheon, Korea; Yonsei Institute of Convergence Technology, Yonsei UniversityIncheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jiwon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seo
keywords: haptic stimuli; multimodal task; multitasking; task interruption and recovery; working memory