Discussion on Duration of Uninterruptibility Reduction at Focused Application-Switching

Abstract

In this paper, we experimentally discuss the duration of uninterruptibility reduction effect at focused Application-switching (AS) using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and subjective evaluation scores during PC operation. The NIRS results suggested that AS corresponds to the halfway of the concentration on the task using the switched application, and it takes five seconds on average to reach the concentrated state. Moreover, the subjective evaluation scores revealed that the interrupts within two seconds from AS show significantly lower uninterruptibility than the interrupts after four seconds or more. These results suggested that the AS uninterruptibility reduction is an acute effect that lasts in several seconds.