Intelligent Interruption Management using Electro Dermal Activity based Physiological Sensor for Collaborative Sensemaking

Sensemaking tasks are difficult to accomplish with limited time and attentional resources because analysts are faced with a constant stream of new information. While this information is often important, the timing of the interruptions may detract from analyst's work. In an ideal world, there would be no interruptions. But that is not the case in real world sensemaking tasks. So, in this study, we explore the value of timing interruptions based on an analyst's state of arousal as detected by Electrodermal activity derived form galvanic skin response (EDA). In a laboratory study, we compared performance when interruptions were timed to occur during increasing arousal, decreasing arousal, at random intervals or not at all. Analysts performed significantly better when interruptions occurred during periods of increasing arousal than when they were random. Further, analysts rated process component of team experience significantly higher also during periods of increasing arousal than when they were random. Self-reported workload was not impacted by interruptions timing. We discuss how system designs could leverage inexpensive off-the-shelf wrist sensors to improve interruption timing.