The Effect of Tablet Computer Configurations and Touchscreen Gestures on Human Biomechanics, Performance, and Subjective Assessment

As the increasing usage scenarios of tablet computers led to more non-neutral postures, optimizing the touchscreen gesture input became imminent to improve system performance and users' well-being. Therefore, we conducted a study to investigate the influence of four tablet configurations and seven touchscreen gestures on electromyography, performance, and subjective assessment. Our results indicated that muscular loads of shoulder decreased under the Stand-Hand configuration while it increased under the Sit-Table during gesture interaction. We also found that Drag-Up and Drag-Left tended to possess higher muscular loads of shoulder while Drag-Down caused greater muscular loads of index finger. Besides, two-touch gestures spent longer duration when performing long-distance movements. Dragging in the inner direction was supposed to be more efficient than that in the outer direction. Our findings could provide a scientific basis for guiding the appropriate selection and the use of touchscreen interaction in the future HCI field.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of different tablet configurations and touchscreen gestures on electromyography, performance, and subjective assessment. The results showed that the Stand-Hand configuration reduced shoulder muscle loads, while the Sit-Table configuration increased them. Certain gestures also led to increased muscle loads in specific areas. Additionally, long-distance movements took more time, and dragging inwards was found to be more efficient than dragging outwards.