Computer Input Devices — Race and Gender: Is there a mismatch between anthropometry and input device design

Throughput (TP) is a global measure of input device efficiency but provides little information about user's movement behavior when interacting with a device. Psychomotor models of movement provide a framework from which to develop new “during” movement variables that can be used to explain why efficiency differences occur. Data from a previous study examining the usability of a mouse, trackball and RollerMouse™ was re-examined using TP and the kinematic variables peak velocity of the primary movement (PV) and proportion of total distance traveled in primary phase (%PMD). Partial correlation analysis found %PMD and PV to be significantly related to TP and negatively related with each other, suggesting a “speed/accuracy” tradeoff. Further analysis confirmed the variables were useful in discriminating between devices and found that the most efficient device was less constrained by the “speed/accuracy” tradeoff. It was concluded that kinematic variables offer a useful way of understanding efficiency differences between devices.

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A Comparison of Computer Input Devices: Linus Pen, Mouse, Cursor Keys and Keyboard

Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193128903300521 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 33 (5) ◽

pp. 330-334 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Karen Renee Mahach

Keyword(s):

Handwriting Recognition ◽

Data Entry ◽

Recognition System ◽

Input Device ◽

Input Devices ◽

Mouse Cursor ◽

Computer Input ◽

Computer Input Devices ◽

Speed And Accuracy ◽

Optical Mouse

Four input devices were compared in a data entry task by speed and accuracy scores. The input devices were: Linus pen (a handwriting recognition system), optical mouse, cursor keys, and alphabetic keys on a keyboard. Data entry consisted of twenty 5-letter words and 100 single letters. Two different screen designs (QWERTY and ALPHA) were used for the mouse and cursor keys conditions. Results showed the keyboard to be fastest and the cursor keys to be slowest in data entry. The mouse and Linus pen had comparable latency scores. Overall, five-letter words were entered faster than five single letters. Latency decreased over trials, and ALPHA conditions required more time than QWERTY conditions. The Linus pen was the least accurate input device. The cursor QWERTY condition produced the highest accuracy scores for letter entry while the keyboard produced the highest accuracy scores for word entry.

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Design and Application of a Novel Virtual Reality Navigational Technology (VRNChair)

Journal of Experimental Neuroscience ◽

10.4137/jen.s13448 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

pp. JEN.S13448 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Ahmad Byagowi ◽

Danyal Mohaddes ◽

Zahra Moussavi

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Optical Flow ◽

Input Device ◽

Gaming Industry ◽

Input Devices ◽

Manual Wheelchair ◽

Vestibular Response ◽

Computer Input ◽

Computer Input Devices ◽

Natural Way

This paper presents a novel virtual reality navigation (VRN) input device, called the VRNChair, offering an intuitive and natural way to interact with virtual reality (VR) environments. Traditionally, VR navigation tests are performed using stationary input devices such as keyboards or joysticks. However, in case of immersive VR environment experiments, such as our recent VRN assessment, the user may feel kinetosis (motion sickness) as a result of the disagreement between vestibular response and the optical flow. In addition, experience in using a joystick or any of the existing computer input devices may cause a bias in the accuracy of participant performance in VR environment experiments. Therefore, we have designed a VR navigational environment that is operated using a wheelchair (VRNChair). The VRNChair translates the movement of a manual wheelchair to feed any VR environment. We evaluated the VRNChair by testing on 34 young individuals in two groups performing the same navigational task with either the VRNChair or a joystick; also one older individual (55 years) performed the same experiment with both a joystick and the VRNChair. The results indicate that the VRNChair does not change the accuracy of the performance; thus removing the plausible bias of having experience using a joystick. More importantly, it significantly reduces the effect of kinetosis. While we developed VRNChair for our spatial cognition study, its application can be in many other studies involving neuroscience, neurorehabilitation, physiotherapy, and/or simply the gaming industry.

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