Of Mice and Users

Human-system interaction research proposes that human performance will be higher when there is greater similarity between user, task, and interface characteristics. Force-feedback devices have recently become available as economically feasible additions to human-system interfaces. An experiment is proposed to investigate two aspects of applying force-feedback to the human-system interaction. At a higher level, the experiment will attempt to both (1) specify those user characteristics that most affect the ability of the force- feedback device to influence user performance and (2) extend prior research on task/interface characteristic concordance into the realm of force-feedback devices. At a lower level, the experiment will attempt to derive the most appropriate ways that a force-feedback input/output device can be customized or applied to best enhance a human user’s performance on typical home/office computer tasks. A pilot study and experiment are described in which subjects will complete typical home/office computer-based tasks with both a standard and a force-feedback mouse. Subjects will be tested for their abilities and aptitudes with the force-feedback mouse. An analysis of task performance by subject and device should shed light on both the user/interface and task/interface relationships when the interface is moderated by the use of force- feedback