Effects of Input Device and Motion Type on a Cursor-Positioning Task

Abstract

Many studies have investigated the performance of using nonkey-board input devices under static situations, but few have considered the effects of motion type on manipulating these input devices. In this study comparison of 12 mens' performance using four input devices (three trackballs: currently used, trackman wheel, and erectly held trackballs, as well as a touch screen) under five motion types of static, heave, roll, pitch, and random movements was conducted. The input device and motion type significantly affected movement speed and accuracy, and their interaction significantly affected the movement speed. The touch screen was the fastest but the least accurate input device. The erectly held trackball was the slowest, whereas the error rate of the currently used trackball was the lowest. Impairments of the random motion on movement time and error rate were larger than those of other motion types. Considering objective and subjective evaluations, the trackman wheel and currently used trackball were more efficient in operation than the erectly held trackball and touch screen under the motion environments.

Design and evaluation of braced touch for touchscreen input stabilisation

“…Relatively few published studies have empirically investigated touchscreen interaction during aircraft turbulence, although there have been some studies of touchscreen interaction in ships, which have much lower levels of motion-induced acceleration (Lin et al, 2010;Yau et al, 2008). Bauersfeld (1992) compared lift-off and confirm-on-contact target selection criteria during simulated aircraft turbulence, with results supporting earlier findings showing the superiority of lift-off (Potter et al, 1988).…”

Future technology on the flight deck: assessing the use of touchscreens in vibration environments

“…Previous studies have found that fixed touchscreen use tends to be more physically demanding and lead to more bodily discomfort (Stanton et al 2013;Harvey et al 2011) and suffer from higher error rates (Avsar, Fischer andRodden 2015, Cockburn et al, 2017) than other input devices such as trackballs and touchpads (Lin et al, 2010;Yau, Chao andHwang, 2008, Cockburn et al, 2017). However despite this, in a flight deck context, for all vibration conditions, the usability and workload appeared comparable to those reported from other input devices, for both the centre and side screens.…”

“…While they did not identify any studies that assessed conditions reflecting aircraft turbulence, numerous studies have explored the use of touchscreens in other environments with unwanted movements. These include agricultural tractors (Baldus & Patterson, 2008), and simulators that exposed participants to vibration conditions that replicated military maritime vessels (Bjorneseth, Dunlop and Hornecker, 2013;Yau, Chao and Hwang, 2008) as well as unfinished roads that military vehicles may encounter (Goode, Lenne and Salmon, 2012). The results from such studies identified that touchscreens provided quicker movement times in contrast to mouse and trackball inputs (Lin et al, 2010;Yau, Chao and Hwang, 2008).…”

Touchscreen interfaces in context: A systematic review of research into touchscreens across settings, populations, and implementations

“…Several studies investigated the use of touchscreens in extraneous movement settings, and their findings can help to inform the design of interfaces in these settings. In particular, touchscreen interfaces are prone to high error rates in settings with unexpected or undesired movement (Goode et al, 2012;Lin et al, 2010;Yau et al, 2008), and neither practice nor the use of gesture input seems to mitigate this effect (Baldus & Patterson, 2008;Goode et al, 2012). In addition, touchscreens lead to higher fatigue/ lower comfort than alternate input methods such as mouse and trackball (Baldus & Patterson, 2008;Yau et al, 2008).…”

“…In particular, touchscreen interfaces are prone to high error rates in settings with unexpected or undesired movement (Goode et al, 2012;Lin et al, 2010;Yau et al, 2008), and neither practice nor the use of gesture input seems to mitigate this effect (Baldus & Patterson, 2008;Goode et al, 2012). In addition, touchscreens lead to higher fatigue/ lower comfort than alternate input methods such as mouse and trackball (Baldus & Patterson, 2008;Yau et al, 2008). However, touchscreens had the fastest movement time (Lin et al, 2010;Yau et al, 2008), therefore in cases where fast movement time is a high priority and can come at the cost of accuracy, touchscreens are recommended.…”