The Interruption of Tasks: Methodological, Factual, and Theoretical Issues.

After describing the criterion scores which have been used to assess behavior in the interrupted task paradigm (ITP), a summary of the research literature is presented. ITP as a source of data for evaluating the psychoanalytic theory of repression is found not to allow for the separation of learning and retention effects, and so is not well suited to the study of repression. Similarly, the mediation-avoidance hypothesis makes predictions only concerning interrupted task recall and while it is partially consistent with indirect data, it has yet to receive direct experimental test. The need-achievement conception predicts interrupted task recall satisfactorily but is inapplicable to completed task recall or relative recall scores. Finally ITP is considered as a source of data for a developmental conception of success-failure reactions, Repetition choice scores are found to be consistent with the developmental theory, but some recall results are not.