Title
On interface closeness and problem solving
Abstract
Prior research suggests that "closer" interface styles, such as touch and tangible, would yield poorer performance on problem solving tasks as a result of their more natural interaction style. However, virtually no empirical investigations have been conducted to test this assumption. In this paper we describe an empirical study, comparing three interfaces, varying in closeness (mouse, touchscreen, and tangible) on a novel abstract problem solving task. We found that the tangible interface was significantly slower than both the mouse and touch interfaces. However, the touch and tangible interfaces were significantly more efficient than the mouse interface in problem solving across a number of measures. Overall, we found that the touch interface condition offered the best combination of speed and efficiency; in general, the closer interfaces offer significant benefit over the traditional mouse interface on abstract problem solving.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1145/2460625.2460647
Tangible and Embedded Interaction
Keywords
Field
DocType
closer interface,novel abstract problem,touch interface condition,traditional mouse interface,mouse interface,empirical investigation,interface style,tangible interface,interface closeness,abstract problem,touch interface
Natural interaction,Computer science,Closeness,Touchscreen,Human–computer interaction,Empirical research
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
3
0.40
9
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Thomas J. Donahue130.74
G. Michael Poor25810.00
Martez Mott3444.98
Laura Marie Leventhal46212.43
Guy Zimmerman5122.22
Dale Klopfer651.16