An Empirical Comparison Between the Effects of Normal and Low Vision on Kinematics of a Mouse-Mediated Pointing Movement

Vision problem is affecting many Americans today. While there are several pioneering studies that examine computer input tasks performed by people with low vision, most focus on aggregate measures of performance, such as total task time. To provide a more detailed analysis of low vision user performance, we captured kinematics of pointing movements with the goal of determining the effect of low vision on the process of the movement. Ten participants were recruited to form a sighted and a low vision group. After controlling for the effects of age and psychomotor ability, differences in movement performance and kinematics between the two groups were compared. As expected, longer movement times were observed among low vision participants. When the movement was parsed into primary (i.e., initial phase) and secondary (i.e., homing phase) submovements, the kinematics of the primary submovement were similar for the two groups. However, low vision participants were found to spend more time in the secondary submovement. The effect of visual condition was amplified when a low vision participant had to move the cursor over longer distances. These findings suggest that for computing tasks requiring mouse-mediated pointing, task improvements focused on the secondary movement (i.e. homing phase) would benefit low vision users. Improving performance during homing phase could result in the overall improvement of performance. These results could also be useful to guide the development of adaptive and individualized assistive technology to assist users acquire intended targets. These results could also be useful to guide the development of adaptive and individualized assistive technology to assist users acquire intended targets.