Data from: Pardon the interruption: goal proximity, perceived spare time, and impatience

There is no worse time to be interrupted than right now. Being close to attaining a goal to complete a focal task increases the attractiveness of that task compared to an interrupting task (study 1), makes people less willing to take on some otherwise attractive interruption than if they were farther away from completion (studies 2, 3, and 4), and causes them to perceive that in that moment they have little spare time (studies 3 and 4). Consumers immersed in goal pursuit are affected by local progress on an individual subgoal that supports an overarching goal even if this has no effect on the timing of attaining the overarching goal. Observers do not appreciate the motivating power of proximity to completing subgoals, and this leads them to mispredict the behavior of others (study 5).

没有比此刻更不适合被打断的时刻。相较于干扰性任务，临近完成核心任务的目标节点时，该任务的吸引力会有所提升（研究1）；相较于尚未接近任务完成的状态，此时人们更不愿承接原本颇具吸引力的干扰任务（研究2、3、4）；同时还会让他们感知到当下几乎没有可支配的空余时间（研究3、4）。沉浸于目标追寻过程中的消费者，会受到支撑总体目标的单个子目标的局部进度影响——即便该局部进度不会改变总体目标的达成时机。旁观者则无法领会临近完成子目标所带来的激励效应，进而会错误预测他人的行为表现（研究5）。