Hand position at computer screens
Nathalie Le Bigot, Wolfgang Jaschinski · 2011
Today, electronic reading is not limited to the classical computer screen put on the desk. It is possible to process electronic documents from screens that can be held in the hands. Several studies already showed that visual processing can be modified when participants direct the hands toward the visual display. Using an experimental approach we tested whether visual processing is affected by holding the screen with the hands when performing a task for an extended period of time. Therefore, we had participants to scan pseudo-texts in order to detect a target letter under two conditions depending on their hand position (near the display vs. far from the display). Unexpectedly, the results showed that participants made significantly more errors with hands near the display. No difference was observed on the time to perform the task. By taking together these results with some previous observations, the discussion points out that having hands near the display could have negative effects on some daily computer activities.