075 Interference Effects
Things that trigger conflicting thought processes reduce thinking efficiency.
• Interference effects occur when nonessential mental processes interfere with essential mental processes, increasing errors and slowing task performance.
• Nonessential mental processes can be triggered by conflicting meanings, distractions in the environment, and memories that are irrelevant to the task at hand.
• For example, a green “stop” button triggers a mental process for “go” because of the color green, and a mental process for “stop” because of the label “stop”. The two mental processes interfere with one another.
• Minimize interference by eliminating elements that distract. Keep designs simple. Abide by strong color and symbol conventions when they exist (e.g., red means stop, green means go).
See Also Errors • Inattentional Blindness • Performance Load
