ON THE ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE OF HIGH SPEED AND HIGH ACCURACY IN A KEYBOARD TASK

The performance of groups of subjects was studied in a controlled laboratory training situation. The variables reported on are displays, keyboards, instructions. and age. It was found that under all the display conditions investigated subjects were able to achieve and maintain high speed and high accuracy without immediate augmented feedback; that final performance requiring high accuracy was unaffected by instructions stressing speed during initial training; that there was no difference between a single finger and a five-finger keyboard; and that while older subjects were significantly slower than younger all subjects were able to perform a copying task quite adequately. The role of augmented feedback during training, and the ability of subjects to detect their own errors, are discussed.