The effect of interruptions and breaks on insight and impasses: Do you need a break right now?

Creativity Research Journal

Volumn 20, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 358-364

  Beeftink, Flora ^a   Van Eerde, Wendelien ^a,c   Rutte, Christel G ^b  

^a EINDHOVEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY   (Netherlands)

^b TILBURG UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

^c UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 55549095640     PISSN: 10400419     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10400410802391314     Document Type: Article

References (29)

1. Bailey, B. P., & Konstan, J. A. (2006). On the need for attention-aware systems: Measuring effects of interruption on task performance, error rate, and affective state. Computers in Human Behavior, 22, 685-708.
2. Butler, D. L., & Thomas, K. M. (1999). Preliminary study of the effectiveness of some heuristics used to generate solutions to illstructured problems. Psychological Reports, 84, 817-827.
3. Christensen, B. T., & Schunn, C. D. (2005). Spontaneous access and analogical incubation effects. Creativity Research Journal, 17, 207-220.
4. Chronicle, E. P., Ormerod, T. C., & MacGregor, J. N. (2001). When insight just won't come: The failure of visual cues in the nine-dot problem. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology, 54, 903-919.
5. Czerwinski, M., Horvitz, E., & Wilhite, S. (2004, April). A diary study of task switching and interruptions. Paper presented at the CHI, Vienna, Austria.
6. Dodds, R. A., Ward, T. B., & Smith, K. G. (in press). A review of experimental research on incubation in problem solving and creativity. In M. A. Runco (Ed.), Creativity research handbook. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
7. Dow, G. T., & Mayer, R. E. (2004). Teaching students to solve insight problems: Evidence for domain specificity in creativity training. Creativity Research Journal, 16, 389-402.
8. Eyrolle, H., & Cellier, J. M. (2000). The effects of interruptions in work activity: Field and laboratory results. Applied Ergonomics, 31, 537-543.
9. Fisher, C. D. (1998). Effects of external and internal interruptions on boredom at work: Two studies. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 503-522.
10. Fleck, J. I., & Weisberg, R. W. (2004). The use of verbal protocols as data: An analysis of insight in the candle problem. Memory & Cognition, 32, 990-1006.
11. Green, P., & Skinner, D. (2005). Does time management training work? An evaluation. International Journal of Training and Development, 9, 124-138.
12. Jett, Q. R., & George, J. M. (2003). Work interrupted: A closer look at the role of interruptions in organizational life. Academy of Management Review, 28, 494-507.
13. Kirmeyer, S. L. (1988). Coping with competing demands - Interruption and the type-a pattern. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73, 621-629.
14. König, C. J., Kleinmann, M., & Höhmann, W. (2004, August). Is a quiet hour an effective time management technique? Paper presented at the Academy of Management, New Orleans, LA.
15. Macan, T. H. (1994). Time management: Test of a process model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 381-391.
16. Nandhakumar, J., & Jones, M. (2001). Accounting for time: Managing time in project-based team working. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 26, 193-214.
17. Norman, D. A., & Bobrow, D. G. (1975). Data-limited and resource-limited processes. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 44-64.
18. Olton, R. M. (1979). Experimental studies of incubation: Searching for the elusive. Journal of Creative Behavior, 13, 9-22.
19. Patrick, C. (1938). Scientific thought. Journal of Psychology, 5, 55-83.
20. Runco, M. A., & Sakamoto, S. O. (1999). Experimental studies of creativity. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 62-92). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
21. Segal, E. (2004). Incubation in insight problem solving. Creativity Research Journal, 16, 141-148.
22. Seifert, C. M., Meyer, D. E., Davidson, N., Patalano, A. L., & Yaniv, I. (1995). Demystification of cognitive insight: Opportunistic assimilation and the prepared-mind perspective. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of insight (pp. 65-124). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
23. Smith, S. M. (1995). Fixation, incubation, and insight in memory and creative thinking. In S. M. Smith, T. B. Ward & R. A. Finke (Eds.), The creative cognition approach (pp. 135-156). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
24. Smith, S. M., & Blankenship, S. E. (1991). Incubation and the persistence of fixation in problem-solving. American Journal of Psychology, 104, 61-87.
25. Sternberg, R. J., & Davidson, J. E. (1999). Insight. In M. A. Runco & S. R. Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity (Vol. 2, pp. 57-69). London: Academic Press.
26. Wallas, G. (1926). The art of thought. New York: Harcourt.
27. Weisberg, R. W. (1995). Prolegomena to theories of insight in problem solving: A taxonomy of problems. In R. J. Sternberg & J. E. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of insight (pp. 157-196). London: MIT Press.
28. Wells, D. H. (1996). Forced incubation. Creativity Research Journal, 9, 407-409.
29. Zijlstra, F. R. H., Roe, R. A., Leonora, A. B., & Krediet, I. (1999). Temporal factors in mental work: Effects of interrupted activities. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72, 163-185.