The Effects of Intended Use on Target Acquisition

Abstract

Fitts's Law has been used extensively in HCI to describe 2D targeting; however, the controlled tasks generally used neglect aspects of real-world pointing, including how the intended use of a target affects its acquisition. We studied aiming to a target in four tasks requiring varying precision after acquisition. Our results present the first evidence that the intended use of a target affects its acquisition in terms of movement time and motion kinematics for computer aiming. Important for researchers who model 2D targeting, our results also have particular impact for HCI research that uses motion kinematics.