Arbitrating modalities of interruption using ambient displays

Abstract

This thesis presents two experiments designed to test the effect of different modalities when used as interruptions. A multimodal interface explores the use of ambient displays in the context of interruption where visual and thermal ambient displays acted as external interruption generators. This works shows and demonstrates that interruption modalities are perceived differently, trigger different reactions and have a different disruptive effect on memory. The thermal modality produced a larger decrease in performance than the visual modality. Disruptiveness and performance measures agree that heat causes more of a detrimental effect on performance than light when used as an interruption. This thesis proposes to use users' physiological responses as feedback for a computer interface. Experiments in this thesis set the initial point for understanding how to build interfaces that use modalities appropriately by looking at the effect of different modalities when used as interruptions. Interruptions are disruptive and inherent to current computer interfaces. Properly selecting interruption modalities can control their disruptive effects.