What Happens When You Can’t Press Pause? The Effect of Interruptions on Detecting Threats in A Simulated Closed-Circuit Television Surveillance Feed

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of interruptions on the ability to detect and report threatening behaviors on 20-second clips of simulated low frame-rate closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage. Participants reviewed clips and were occasionally interrupted approximately halfway through and asked to complete a secondary task for 20 seconds. When the interruption expired, participants resumed viewing the clip, either from where the clip left off or from a later point in time. An analysis of the threats reported by participants revealed that after being interrupted, threats in clips that resumed exactly where they were interrupted were more likely to be detected. If the clip resumed at a later point in time, participants were less likely to recall the threats they had observed before the interruption. This finding highlights the particularly disruptive nature of interruptions in a naturalistic setting and necessitates further investigation into how these effects can be mitigated.