“Both groups seem able to type without thinking about letters, keys and movements, having handed that off to the motor system.” Research team Jana Ulrich, left, Gordon Logan, and Dakota Lindsey (John Russell / Vanderbilt)īy analyzing how the typists’ performance changed when the keyboard was obscured, the researchers discovered that the nonstandard typists rely on their vision much more than standard typists. “Neither group had enough explicit knowledge of the keyboard to support their demonstrated speed,” the researchers state. Nonstandard typists correctly identified 15 keys, got seven incorrect and omitted five. Standard typists, on average, could correctly identify 17 keys, got four incorrect and omitted five. The researchers tested the keyboard knowledge of both groups and found them both to be incomplete and inaccurate. Citing another study that found 90 percent of its subjects were nonstandard, the researchers commented, “Perhaps standard typists are a rare breed.” One of the surprises the researchers got was the discovery that 14 of the 24 typists who said they were standard typists were actually nonstandard typists. “Similarly, our results raise the question of the value of remedial training for nonstandard typists.” “The benefits of earlier training may not be large enough to outweigh the costs the typist and educational system would have to pay,” Logan said. (John Russell / Vanderbilt University)īased on their results, the researchers question whether schools should invest in teaching typing to children at an earlier age. The researchers videotaped the typing of 48 participants so they could analyze the relative effectiveness of touch typists and non-standard typists. This suggests that the speed difference between standard and nonstandard typists probably does not have much impact on messaging and similar activities. In an unpublished test, they found that a skilled typist who could type at 78 words per minute slowed down to 45 words per minute when composing messages. In addition, the researchers point out that most of the typing people do these days involves composing messages, not directly copying printed material, which is the basis of typing speed tests. That is good enough to pass a typing proficiency test,” said Logan. “We even had one two-finger typist who could manage 60 words per minute. In their tests, standard typists averaged 80 words per minute compared to 72 for the nonstandard typists. “Our study confirmed the theory by determining that touch typists have a definite edge in speed but we also found that nonstandard typists can type almost as quickly and accurately as touch typists as long as they can see the keyboard.” “According to basic psychological laws that govern fine motor skills, the typing style that uses the most fingers consistently should be the fastest and most effective,” said Logan. (Logan Laboratory / Vanderbilt University) So the researchers were not surprised when a number of people who claimed to be standard typists turned out to actually use non-standard techniques. Logan’s research has found that people aren’t really aware of which fingers they use to type which letters. If they said ‘no’ they were classified as nonstandard typists. If they said ‘yes’ they were classified as standard touch typists. At the beginning of the study participants where shown this color-coded illustration of a keyboard and fingers and asked if they used their fingers to type matching colored keys. 17 by the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. The results are described in the paper “ Different (Key)Strokes for Different Folks: How Standard and Nonstandard Typists Balance Fitt’s Law and Hick’s Law” published online Oct. So they conducted a study with 48 participants, half of whom reported they were standard and half of whom reported they were nonstandard typists. Three years ago, after completing a study that found standard touch typists can’t identify the positions of many of the keys on the QWERTY keyboard and novice typists don’t appear to learn key locations in the first place, Centennial Professor of Psychology Gordon Logan, research assistant Jana Ulrich and doctoral student Dakota Lindsey at Vanderbilt University began wondering how effective these nonstandard typing techniques were and whether today’s keyboardists would benefit from taking typing classes in elementary school. But most modern-day typists are self-taught and have adopted “nonstandard” styles that are much different from the “touch typing” taught in typing classes. These days, due to the spread of computers, tablets and smart phones, almost everybody types.
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