A Comparison of Cursor-Control Performance of the Rollermouse Station™ and the Standard Mouse

Abstract

This study compared first-time usage and performance of the RollerMouse Station™ to the standard mouse. Participants completed serial-clicking and serial-dragging tasks using a variety of angles, distances, and sizes on both input devices. Movement time, homing time, and error rate per condition were examined as dependent variables. Results revealed faster point-and-click and click-and-drag performance for the standard mouse but no difference in error rate across the two devices. In addition, the RollerMouse was significantly faster for homing time. Although the standard mouse was faster in target acquisition, the increase in performance from the homing time for the RollerMouse resulted in only a slight advantage for the mouse in total movement time. These results are promising for the RollerMouse as an alternative input device to the mouse. Further studies investigating the effects of practice and hand configuration are discussed.

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