Interruption of the Tower of London Task: Support for a Goal-Activation Approach

Unexpected interruptions introduced during the execution phase of simple Tower of London problems incurred a time cost when the interrupted goal was retrieved, and this cost was exacerbated the longer the goal was suspended. Furthermore, time taken to retrieve goals was greater following a more complex interruption, indicating that processing limitations may be as important as time-based limitations in determining the ease of goal retrieval. Such findings cannot simply be attributed to task-switching costs and are evaluated in relation to current models of goal memory ( E. M. Altmann & G. J. Trafton, 2002 ; J. R. Anderson & S. Douglass, 2001 ), which provide a useful basis for the investigation and interpretation of interruption effects.