Individual Differences in Memory Disruption Caused by Simulated Cellphone Notifications

Participants studied the lists under three levels of cellphone distraction: no notifications, instructions to dismiss incoming notifications without reading them, and instructions to read incoming notifications. We also measured individual differences in working memory capacity, reliance on cellphones, media multitasking, texting, video gaming, and musical experience.

Multiple measures of word memory were assessed, including word recall, category recall, words-per-category recall, and ratio-of-repetitions. In general, memory performance declined as the level of distraction increased. Dismissing notifications impaired relational processing as measured by category recall.