Don't stop me now: Psychological effects of interrupting a moving pedestrian crowd and a video game.

Üsten, Ezel; Sieben, Anna · 2023 · DOAJ

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287583

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Summary

This study investigates the psychological and physiological effects of interruptions on individuals, specifically within the contexts of video game gameplay and pedestrian crowd dynamics. Motivated by the prevalence of interruptions in complex societies and a lack of research focusing on the psychological perspective of interrupted pedestrians, the authors aim to understand how different interruption conditions affect emotion, motivation, arousal, and heart rate. The research addresses two primary theoretical frameworks: the "valuation" concept, which suggests that proximity to a goal influences reaction intensity, and a motivational dichotomy distinguishing between high and low initial motivation. The research comprises two distinct studies. Study 1 utilized a between-subject design with 61 participants who played a video game while wearing heart rate monitors. Participants were randomly assigned to either an "early interruption" condition (interrupted 15 minutes into gameplay) or a "late interruption" condition (interrupted near task completion). The study measured psychological states using the Multidimensional State Boredom Scale (assessing boredom and impatience) and physiological responses via heart rate. Due to data artifacts caused by high temperatures, approximately one-third of the heart rate data was excluded. Study 2 involved 301 participants in a pedestrian crowd simulation where groups of 80–100 people imagined entering a concert hall through a narrow bottleneck. This study manipulated motivation levels (high vs. low) and measured psychological responses and crowd density (persons/m²) in front of the bottleneck. In Study 1, the hypothesized differences based on goal proximity were not supported. Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference in boredom or impatience scores between early and late interruptions. However, physiological data indicated that interruptions significantly increased heart rate compared to both baseline and gameplay periods, regardless of timing. This suggests that interruptions universally induce an arousal-inducing state. In Study 2, the results aligned with the motivational framework. Participants in the low motivation group reported feeling bored during the interruption, whereas the high motivation group reported feeling impatient. Crucially, the high motivation group experienced a significant decrease in motivation following the interruption. This motivational drop was physically reflected in the crowd dynamics, as evidenced by increased density in front of the bottleneck, indicating that interrupted, highly motivated pedestrians slowed down or stopped, disrupting flow. The findings demonstrate that interruptions have significant psychological and physiological impacts, universally increasing arousal and annoyance. The study highlights that initial motivation levels are a critical factor in determining specific emotional responses (boredom vs. impatience) and subsequent behavioral outcomes. The observed decrease in motivation among highly motivated individuals, leading to increased crowd density, has direct implications for crowd management and infrastructure design. The authors conclude that while interruptions are inevitable, their context-specific effects, particularly regarding motivation and flow disruption, require further investigation to improve pedestrian safety and efficiency.

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• prospective memory interruptions