Kinematic analysis of remote target pointing hand movements in a 3D environment

Abstract

The study investigates kinematics of target pointing hand movements in a free-hand, touchless, 3D environment. Consistent with Fitts' original information processing model, target pointing hand movement time in a 3D space increased with an increase of distance, and increased with a decrease of target size. The relative primary submovement movement time (% of total movement time) for target with depth (67.24%) was higher than that for targets without depth (64.49%). Pointing targets in the upper half of the reference framework required a lifting up of the arm to work against the gravity, and thus cost more than those in the lower half. For targets with depth, they required an even elevated upper-arm, thus result a longer "primary submovement time", a decreased "peak velocity", and a decreased relative time to peak velocity. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.