Contributions of Pre-Fitts Researchers to Goal-Directed Aiming Studies

ABSTRACT

The author aimed to review some of the early research on goal-directed aiming and reaching. R. S. Woodworth's (1899) well known, and often referenced, paper is only one of the research papers, prior to the revolutionary paper of P. M. Fitts (1954), which had a significant effect on knowledge of human movements. When Fitts’ work was published, much of the previous work was forgotten, as the new paradigm paved the way for a better theoretical basis for the understanding of human movement and, in particular, movement times. There was research prior to Woodworth and between Woodworth and Fitts that has made a contribution to understanding of aimed movements. Woodworth gave results that can still be of use today and made a number of postulations about the way that movements are performed. His and other data are reanalyzed in light of modern models, taking regard of the limitations in those experiments.

Keywords:

• early movement research
• Fitts’ law
• movement times
• Woodworth

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author acknowledges the very helpful comments of Professor Digby Elliott and an anonymous reviewer in the preparation of this article. Their comments led to a restructuring of the article and inclusion of several other sources.