Abstract: Task interruptions represent a ubiquitous phenomenon in our everyday world: While performing some primary task, a person is interrupted and must engage in a secondary task before resuming the primary task. Successful TIM has become increasingly important for successful performance in the many fields of work. In this paper we try to undertake a systematic review of the current task interruption management (TIM) research in psychology and HCI, so as to further explore the direction and focus of future research. In the first place, TIM has been defined the method of coordinating the main tasks and interrupting task so as to harness the benefits while minimizing the costs. We also present two fundamentally distinct paradigms of TIM that researchers adopt based on their different goals. One paradigm is Interruption impact reduction paradigm which is the current mainstream, the other is Interruption value evaluation paradigm. The former is purposed to reduce negative impacts of interruptions, the latter is for the sake of harnessing the utility of interruptions. In the next place, in order to Understand why interruption will influence people, five related theories are introduced which are memory for goals, prospective memory, long-term working memory, multiple resource theory and IMSM. The first three theories are all based on memory though they emphasize different aspects of memory. They enable detailed predictions about the disruptive properties of interruptions, such as the most appropriate timing of the interruption, the important role of rehearsal and cues. Multiple resource theory primarily concerns with predicting and explaining multi-tasking performance. The basic tenet of MRT is that, when two tasks compete for the same processing resource within any of the task dimensions, performance is likely to be hampered. IMSM is the first thorough model-based treatment of how people deal with interruptions. It provides a useful framework for hypothesizing task, operator, and environmental factors relevant to TIM, for describing the effects of interruptions and behaviors for handling them, and for identifying dependent measures associated with stages of TIM. Although the basic tenet of the five theories just described is different, there are two common: (1) all of them follow the Interruption impact reduction paradigm and hold that interruptions are disruptive to task performance. (2) The importance of environmental cues is emphasized except MRT. Based on the theoretical basis of TIM research, there have been some encouraging efforts to tackle the issue of handling interruptions. These efforts can be categorized into three classes: one that focuses on the users handling such interruptions, the second focuses on optimizing the design of the interrupt itself, and the last focuses on enhancing or modifying aspects of system design in order to reduce or eliminate the interruptions’ disruptive effects. It can be debated which of the five approaches is most valuable. However, We can take a multipronged approach to improving TIM. In the end, we point out that we should also pay more attention to the positive side of interruption, internal interruption and the role of user’s emotional and social factors in the future TIM research.

Key words: Task Interruption, human-computer interaction, Task Interruption Management

摘要： 科技的发展增加了人机互动中任务中断现象的发生，任务中断管理（Task Interruption Management, TIM）成为工作取得成功日益重要的部分。任务中断管理研究主要采用中断消极影响减少和中断价值评估两种范式，基于记忆的理论、多重资源管理理论和中断管理模型为任务中断管理提供了理论基础，在此基础上研究者发展出基于用户和基于环境的中断管理方法。未来研究需从关注中断的积极影响、内部中断、人的因素尤其是情感性和社会性因素入手加强任务中断管理研究。

关键词: 任务管理, 人机互动, 任务中断管理