The present study investigated the effect of interruptions on the ability to detect and report threateningbehaviors on 20-second clips of simulated low frame-rate closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage.Participants reviewed clips and were occasionally interrupted approximately halfway through and asked tocomplete a secondary task for 20 seconds. When the interruption expired, participants resumed viewing theclip, either from where the clip left off or from a later point in time. An analysis of the threats reported byparticipants revealed that after being interrupted, threats in clips that resumed exactly where they wereinterrupted were more likely to be detected. If the clip resumed at a later point in time, participants wereless likely to recall the threats they had observed before the interruption. This finding highlights theparticularly disruptive nature of interruptions in a naturalistic setting and necessitates further investigationinto how these effects can be mitigated.
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