Dinithi Dissanayake

People have different temptations and habitual behaviors they wish to change, often imagining a better version of themselves. However, most existing behavior-change interventions rely on conscious self-regulation. Existing tools require users to notice a prompt, interpret it, and deliberately override an impulse, which is cognitively demanding and prone to failure when behavior becomes automatic. In this paper, we explore sensory interruptions as a way to bridge perception, cognition, and behavior. These interruptions aim to momentarily disrupt autopilot behavior and enable users to regain control. We evaluated four sensory interruptions: vibrotactile, heat, cold, and audio, with 11 participants. Our findings reveal clear subjective trade-offs: vibrotactile was often perceived as habituated, while heat was effective but generally disliked due to its punitive feel. Nevertheless, most interruptions produced a brief micro-pause that prompted participants to reconsider their behavior, highlighting the potential of physical modulation as a complementary approach to self-regulation.