Technical disruptions in video calls can negatively affect rapport with the person on the other end. Since the COVID pandemic, videoconferencing has spread across many parts of life. More physicians now use it for video visits with patients and for discussions with colleagues. Technical issues such as picture or audio interruptions are almost unavoidable.

A study in Nature now shows that people affected by technical disruptions in a videoconference may be perceived unfavorably by the person they’re speaking with. One reason, according to Melanie Brucks of Columbia University in New York City and colleagues, could be interruptions in video or audio transmission — so-called glitches — that induce discomfort in the other person.

Brucks and colleagues examined the effects of glitches in several experiments and data analyses. When glitches occurred in first-time meetings, participants said they liked the other person less and felt less understood. In short online presentations on health topics, technical disruptions also reduced trust in the presenter.

People who later watched these presentations said they would be less likely to work with the presenter. In another investigation, video problems elicited a feeling of discomfort. The effect could be mitigated, however, when participants did not look directly at each other during a videoconference.

Experts Call the Findings Plausible

Audio disruptions, by contrast, had a stronger negative impact on hiring interest in job interviews than video glitches.

This held true even though no information was lost due to the disruption. Brucks and colleagues also analyzed transcripts of US court probation hearings conducted by videoconference. They found that people who experienced glitches were granted probation less often.

“The findings are plausible and clearly align with existing research on digital communication,” said Johannes Basch, business psychologist at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Neu-Ulm, Germany, in comments to the Science Media Center Germany. Lisa Handke, business psychologist at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg in Erlangen, Germany, also called the study “meaningful.” The concept of “uncanniness” has been known in research for some time and has its origins in robotics.

Here, “uncanny” can be understood as “eerie.”

Disruptions May Increase Cognitive Load

Basch said studies on digital job interviews have for years shown that limits to social presence can lead to different evaluations of candidates. The studies also show these limits affect both candidate performance and interviewer ratings.

Other factors may also play a role: Glitches in videoconferences can increase the working memory’s cognitive load. “This is because content is harder to process and requires additional attention to technical aspects. This, in turn, could lead to less considered decisions,” Basch said.

The new results, in Basch’s view, underscore the need to standardize the medium used for interviews within an applicant pool so individuals are not disadvantaged.

“Conducting interviews with individuals via video conference, supposedly as a courtesy because they would have too long a journey for a face-to-face interview, is therefore not advisable.”

This story was translated from Medscape’s German edition.