Age group differences in performance using diverse input modalities: insertion task evaluation

Novel input modalities such as touch, tangibles or gestures try to exploit human's innate skills rather than imposing new learning processes. However, no work has been reported that systematically evaluates how these interfaces influence users' performance, that is, assesses if one interface can be more or less appropriate for interaction regarding: (1) different age groups; and (2) different basic tasks, as content insertion or manipulation. This work presents itself as an exploratory evaluation about whether or not the users' efficiency is indeed influenced by different input modalities and age. We conducted a usability evaluation with 60 subjects to understand how different interfaces may influence the speed and accuracy of three specific age groups (children, young adults and older-adults) when dealing with a basic content insertion task. Four input modalities were considered to perform the task (keyboard, touch, tangibles and gestures) and the methodology was based on usability testing (speed, accuracy and user preference). Overall, results show that there is a statistically significant difference in speed of task completion between the age groups, and there may be indications that the type of interface that is used can indeed influence efficiency in insertion tasks, and not so much other factors like age. Also, the study raises new issues regarding the "old" mouse input versus the "new" input modalities.