Mouse and touchscreen selection in the upper and lower visual fields

Neuroanatomical evidence indicates the human eye's visual field can be functionally divided into two vertical hemifields, each specialized for specific functions. The upper visual field (UVF) is specialized to support perceptual tasks in the distance, while the lower visual field (LVF) is specialized to support visually-guided motor tasks, such as pointing. We present a user study comparing mouse- and touchscreen-based pointing for items presented in the UVF and LVF on an interactive display. Consistent with the neuroscience literature, we found that mouse and touchscreen pointing were faster and more accurate for items presented in the LVF when compared to pointing at identical targets presented in the UVF. Further analysis found previously unreported performance differences between the visual fields for touchscreen pointing that were not observed for mouse pointing. This indicates that a placement of interactive items favorable to the LVF yields superior user performance, espec...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Barry A. Po, Brian D. Fisher, Kellogg S. Booth
• Keywords: CHI 2004, Human Computer Interaction, Mouse Pointing, Touchscreen Pointing, Touchscreen-based Pointing