Performance of the five-point grip pen in three screen-based tasks

This study examined how user handbreadth, brace shape and brace size of a Five-Point Grip Pen affects the performance of three screen tasks: writing, point-and-clicking, and drawing. Nine braces with three shapes (ball, ball-and-brick, and natural) and three brace sizes (large, medium and small) wer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied ergonomics 2006-09, Vol.37 (5), p.629-639
Main Authors: Wu, Fong-Gong, Luo, Shuyi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Applied physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Computer Peripherals
Equipment Design
Ergonomics
Ergonomics. Work place. Occupational physiology
Female
Hand Strength - physiology
Hands
Human performance
Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Pens & pencils
Taiwan
Task Performance and Analysis
User-Computer Interface
Writing
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Summary:This study examined how user handbreadth, brace shape and brace size of a Five-Point Grip Pen affects the performance of three screen tasks: writing, point-and-clicking, and drawing. Nine braces with three shapes (ball, ball-and-brick, and natural) and three brace sizes (large, medium and small) were tested for performance time, number of errors and subjective preference by 32 subjects (16 males and 16 females). The subjects were selected to fit four groups of handbreadth (below 25%ile, 25%ile–50%ile, 50–75%ile and above 75%ile) of Taiwanese laborers. In general, the subjective ranking results were consistent with the results of performance measures in all three tasks. All measures were affected by brace shape and brace size but differently for each task. The study results can be summarized as follows: (1) The natural shape was the best brace for all tasks. (2) For the writing task, the small brace was best for all four handbreadth groups, the medium brace was adequate only for the handbreadth group of above 75%ile, and the large brace was worst for all groups. (3) For the drawing task, the large and medium braces were suitable for all handbreadth groups, while the small brace was not suitable for the handbreadth group of above 75%ile. (4) For point-and-clicking task, the large size was the best brace.
ISSN:0003-6870
1872-9126
DOI:10.1016/j.apergo.2005.08.005