Centro de Documentacion de Fundación MAPFRE - An Ergonomics study of thumb movements on smartphone touch screen

MAP20140025794

An Ergonomics study of thumb movements on smartphone touch screen / Jinghong Xiong, Satoshi Muraki

Sumario: This study investigated the relationships between thumb muscle activity and thumb operating tasks on a smartphone touch screen with one-hand posture. Six muscles in the right thumb and forearm were targeted in this study, namely adductor pollicis, flexor pollicis brevis, abductor pollicis brevis (APB), abductor pollicis longus, first dorsal interosseous (FDI) and extensor digitorum. The performance measures showed that the thumb developed fatigue rapidly when tapping on smaller buttons (diameter: 9 mm compared with 3 mm), and moved more slowly in flexionextension than in adductionabduction orientation. Meanwhile, the electromyography and perceived exertion values of FDI significantly increased in small button and flexionextension tasks, while those of APB were greater in the adductionabduction task. This study reveals that muscle effort among thumb muscles on a touch screen smartphone varies according to the task, and suggests that the use of small touch buttons should be minimised for better thumb performance

En: Ergonomics : the international journal of research and practice in human factors and ergonomics. - Oxon [United Kingdom] : Taylor & Francis, 2010- = ISSN 0014-0139. - 02/06/2014 Volumen 57 Número 6 - junio 2014

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