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Fitts' throughput and the speed-accuracy tradeoff

Authors:

I. Scott MacKenzie,

Poika IsokoskiAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '08: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 1633 - 1636

https://doi.org/10.1145/1357054.1357308

Published: 06 April 2008 Publication History

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Abstract

We describe an experiment to test the hypothesis that Fitts' throughput is independent of the speed-accuracy tradeoff. Eighteen participants used a mouse in performing a total of 5,400 target selection trials. Comparing nominal, speed-emphasis, and accuracy-emphasis conditions, significant main effects were found on movement time (ms) and error rate (%), but not on throughput (bits/s). In the latter case, failure to reject the null hypothesis of "no significant difference" (i.e., .05 < p < 1) is viewed as evidence supporting the constant-throughput hypothesis.

References

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Fitts, P. M. and Radford, B. K., Information capacity of discrete motor responses under different cognitive sets, J Exp Psych, 71, 1966, 475--482.

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Kantowitz, B. H. and Sorkin, R. D., Human factors: Understanding people-system relationships. New York: Wiley, 1983.

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[3]

MacKenzie, I. S., Fitts' law as a research and design tool in human-computer interaction, Human-Computer Interaction, 7, 1992, 91--139.

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[4]

Soukoreff, R. W. and MacKenzie, I. S., Towards a standard for pointing device evaluation: Perspectives on 27 years of Fitts' law research in HCI, Int J Human-Computer Studies, 61, 2004, 751--789.

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[5]

Zhai, S., Characterizing computer input with Fitts' law parameters: The information and non-information aspects of pointing, Int J Human-Computer Studies, 61, 2004, 791--801.

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Cited By

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Yamanaka SUsuba HOba YKinoshita TTomihari RKasahara NMiyashita H(2024)Verifying Finger-Fitts Models for Normalizing Subjective Speed-Accuracy BiasesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36765328:MHCI(1-24)Online publication date: 24-Sep-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3676532
Mitchell CWobbrock J(2024)Characterizing "Motor Ability" for Ability-Based DesignProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3675646(1-15)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3663548.3675646
Yamanaka SUsuba HSato J(2024)Behavioral Differences between Tap and Swipe: Observations on Time, Error, Touch-point Distribution, and Trajectory for Tap-and-swipe Enabled TargetsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642272(1-12)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642272
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Index Terms

Fitts' throughput and the speed-accuracy tradeoff
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interaction devices
      1. Touch screens

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Published In

CHI '08: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2008

1870 pages

ISBN:9781605580111

DOI:10.1145/1357054

General Chairs:
Mary Czerwinski
Microsoft Research, USA
,
Arnie Lund
Microsoft, USA
,
Program Chair:
Desney Tan
Microsoft Research, USA

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Published: 06 April 2008

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April 5 - 10, 2008

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CHI '08 Paper Acceptance Rate 157 of 714 submissions, 22%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3676532
Mitchell CWobbrock J(2024)Characterizing "Motor Ability" for Ability-Based DesignProceedings of the 26th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3663548.3675646(1-15)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3663548.3675646
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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642272
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Yamanaka S(2024)Relative Merits of Nominal and Effective Indexes of Difficulty of Fitts’ Law: Effects of Sample Size and the Number of Repetitions on Model FitInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2024.230320141:1(574-591)Online publication date: 14-Jan-2024
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An error model for pointing based on Fitts' law

Speed-accuracy tradeoff in Fitts' law tasks: on the equivalency of actual and nominal pointing precision

A Fitts' law study of click and dwell interaction by gaze, head and mouse with a head-mounted display

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