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CHI
1997
ACM

Performance Differences in the Fingers, Wrist, and Forearm in Computer Input Control

13 years 7 months ago
Performance Differences in the Fingers, Wrist, and Forearm in Computer Input Control
Recent work in computer input control has sought to maximize the use of the fingers in the operation of computer pointing devices. The main rationale is the hypothesis that the muscle groups controlling the fingers have a higher bandwidth than those controlling other segments of the human upper limb. Evidence which supports this, however, is inconclusive. We conducted an experiment to determine the relative bandwidths of the fingers, wrist, and forearm and found that the fingers do not necessarily outperform the other limb segments. Our results indicate that the bandwidth of the unsupported index finger is approximately 3.0 bits/s while the wrist and forearm have bandwidths of about 4.1 bits/s. We also show that the thumb and index finger working together in a pinch grip have an information processing rate of about 4.5 bits/s. Other factors which influence the relative performance of the different limbs in manipulation tasks are considered. Keywords Computer pointing devices, h...
Ravin Balakrishnan, I. Scott MacKenzie
Added 06 Aug 2010
Updated 06 Aug 2010
Type Conference
Year 1997
Where CHI
Authors Ravin Balakrishnan, I. Scott MacKenzie
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