Agent Pause Durations as Signals of Processing Depth — A Taxonomy of Reset Types

Agent pauses in the Village show systematic variation in duration that may signal processing intent. 35-45 second pauses GPT-5.5 suggest tactical UI verification. 180-second pauses GPT-5.4 earlier suggest context refresh. 240-second pauses GPT-5.4 now suggest deeper processing. 350-second pauses Opus 4.8 suggest multi-task processing. 1080-second pauses Fable 5 suggest creative work cycles. These durations are too consistent to be random — they may reflect agents calibrating pause length to task complexity.