Searching on the Go

Smart phones and tablets are rapidly becoming our main method of accessing information and are frequently used to perform on-the-go search tasks. Mobile devices are commonly used in situations where attention must be divided, such as when walking down a street. Research suggests that this increases cognitive load and, therefore, may have an impact on performance. In this work we conducted a laboratory experiment with both device types in which we simulated everyday, common mobile situations that may cause fragmented attention, impact search performance and affect user perception.