Simple auditory and visual interruptions of a continuous visual tracking task: modality effects and time course of interference.

Research has produced conflicting evidence regarding whether performance of an on-going visual task is disrupted more by an interruption from a visual or an auditory alert. Tasks and alerts studied to date have been complex or idiosyncratic. This experiment examined how the modality of simple alerts-visual icons or auditory tones-affected performance of an on-going visual task.