Topic 01
Timing and receptivity
When help lands, and when the same help is just noise.
A person's ability to take in help changes from moment to moment. Research on just-in-time support builds on that: define the moments where a system could act, decide with explicit rules, and treat giving nothing as one of the options.
Field studies and randomized trials agree that the same message lands differently depending on what someone is doing and when. They mostly measure whether people respond, not whether they are better off, so timing is a lever, not a guarantee.
Notes
Questions in this topic
- 01When is the right moment for a reminder or a nudge?When the person is able to take it in, which changes from moment to moment. In a trial with 1,255 users of a workplace well-being app (Bidargaddi et al., 2018), the same message made people about 4% more likely to use the app in the next day, and about 12% more likely at 12:30 on weekends.Timing and receptivity
- 02When is it better for an AI assistant to say nothing?Whenever speaking would cost more attention than it gives back: when the person can't take it in, the evidence is thin, or nothing needs to change. The 2018 framework for just-in-time support (Nahum-Shani et al.) counts giving nothing as a designed option, and declining uncertain cases makes a system's other answers more reliable (Geifman and El-Yaniv, 2017).Timing and receptivity
- 03Is there an app that notices when my day is slipping and suggests one next step?Tre-Up, an iOS app in development, is being built for exactly that, and it is not released yet: its AI, Pursue, is designed to notice when your focus or energy shifts and to answer with one small next step, one question, or nothing. Until it ships, your phone's focus modes and scheduled notification summaries cover part of the job.Timing and receptivity
15 sources
What this topic rests on
- 2018Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAIs) in Mobile Health: Key Components and Design Principles for Ongoing Health Behavior SupportNahum-Shani I, Smith SN, Spring BJ, Collins LM, Witkiewitz K, Tewari A, Murphy SA · Annals of Behavioral Medicine 52(6):446–462University of Michigan · Northwestern University · Pennsylvania State University · University of New MexicoDesign framework
- 2026Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions: Where Are We Now and What Is Next?Nahum-Shani I, Murphy SA · Annual Review of Psychology 77:679–703University of Michigan · Harvard UniversityReview
- 2016My Phone and Me: Understanding People's Receptivity to Mobile NotificationsMehrotra A, Pejovic V, Vermeulen J, Hendley R, Musolesi M · Proceedings of CHI 2016, 1021–1032University of Birmingham · University College London · University of Ljubljana · University of CalgaryField study with phone logging and experience sampling
- 2018Real-world large-scale study on adaptive notification scheduling on smartphonesOkoshi T, Tsubouchi K, Tokuda H · Pervasive and Mobile Computing 50:1–24Keio University · Yahoo Japan CorporationLarge-scale deployment in a commercial app
- 2019Efficacy of Contextually Tailored Suggestions for Physical Activity: A Micro-randomized Optimization Trial of HeartStepsKlasnja P, Smith S, Seewald NJ, Lee A, Hall K, Luers B, Hekler EB, Murphy SA · Annals of Behavioral Medicine 53(6):573–582University of Michigan · University of California, San Diego · Harvard UniversityMicro-randomized trial
- 2018To Prompt or Not to Prompt? A Microrandomized Trial of Time-Varying Push Notifications to Increase Proximal Engagement With a Mobile Health AppBidargaddi N, Almirall D, Murphy S, Nahum-Shani I, Kovalcik M, Pituch T, Maaieh H, Strecher V · JMIR mHealth and uHealth 6(11):e10123Flinders University · University of Michigan · Harvard UniversityMicro-randomized trial
- 2015Micro-Randomized Trials: An Experimental Design for Developing Just-in-Time Adaptive InterventionsKlasnja P, Hekler EB, Shiffman S, Boruvka A, Almirall D, Tewari A, Murphy SA · Health Psychology 34(Suppl):1220–1228University of Michigan · Arizona State University · University of PittsburghMethods paper
- 2026Impact of Push Notifications on Physical Activity and Sodium Intake Among Patients with Hypertension: Microrandomized Trial of a Just-in-Time Adaptive InterventionGolbus JR, Dorsch MP, Chen Y, Basu T, Luff E, Klasnja P, Newman MW, Skolarus LE, Dempsey W, Nallamothu BK · Journal of Medical Internet Research 28:e78218University of MichiganMicro-randomized trial within a 6-month randomized trial
- 2008Effects of intelligent notification management on users and their tasksIqbal ST, Bailey BP · Proceedings of CHI 2008University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignSystem with two user studies
- 2004If Not Now, When? The Effects of Interruption at Different Moments Within Task ExecutionAdamczyk PD, Bailey BP · Proceedings of CHI 2004, 271–278University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignLab experiment
- 1999Attention-Sensitive AlertingHorvitz E, Jacobs A, Hovel D · Proceedings of UAI 1999, 305–313Microsoft ResearchDecision-theory model and system
- 1999Principles of mixed-initiative user interfacesHorvitz E · Proceedings of CHI 1999, 159–166Microsoft ResearchDesign principles
- 2017Selective Classification for Deep Neural NetworksGeifman Y, El-Yaniv R · Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 30 (NeurIPS 2017)Technion – Israel Institute of TechnologyMachine-learning method and experiments
- 2020Personalized HeartSteps: A Reinforcement Learning Algorithm for Optimizing Physical ActivityLiao P, Greenewald K, Klasnja P, Murphy S · Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies 4(1):18University of Michigan · IBM Research · Harvard UniversityLearning algorithm with a pilot deployment
- 2025Using Personalized Intervention Criteria in a Mobile Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention for Increasing Physical Activity in University Students: Pilot StudyIkegaya M, Foo JC, Murata T, Oshima K, Kim J · JMIR Human Factors 12:e66750Shizuoka University · University of Alberta · Heidelberg UniversityPilot study, two groups
Tre-Up is built on this research.
Pursue, the AI inside Tre-Up, is designed to notice when your day starts to slip and offer one small next step. The iOS app is in development. Invitations go out in small groups; leave your email and we will contact you when yours is ready.
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