Motor performance in relation to control-display gain and target width

Abstract

Five groups of subjects performed a target alignment task using a joystick-oscilloscope system with different control-display gains. Time taken to move to the target depended upon the width of the area into which the joystick had to be placed in order to align the target, while time taken to correct overshoots depended upon that factor and also the width of the target area on the oscilloscope. Movement precision as measured by overshoot rate depended upon target location and not upon target width whether measured on the joystick or oscilloscope. There was evidence of a movement time-overshoot rate trade-off. The results call into question recent views on the significance of control-display gain in the design of the operator-machine interface.