User performance in consecutive temporal pointing: an exploratory study

Abstract

A significant amount of research has recently been conducted on user performance in so-called temporal pointing tasks, in which a user is required to perform a button input at a specific timing required by the system. However, little is understood about user performance in consecutive temporal pointing tasks, where two consecutive button inputs must be performed while satisfying temporal constraints. To address this gap, this paper aims to provide the first holistic empirical understanding of user performance in consecutive temporal pointing. As a foundational step, we began by gaining an in-depth understanding of the task itself with the establishment of a general taxonomy that categorizes its task scenarios into two types. Through a user study involving 100 participants, we extensively investigated user performance in a variety of consecutive temporal pointing scenarios. The key finding was that consecutive temporal pointing is a unique task that cannot be considered as two ordinary temporal pointing processes. We also observed interesting phenomena, such as instances where the task became unfeasible due to human motor limits. Additionally, we identified significant effects of different input activation points (KeyPressed vs. KeyReleased callback functions) and the execution order of two end-effectors in bimanual input mode on task performance. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for interaction design and by suggesting future directions for follow-up modeling research.