A Matching Test of Task-Gesture on Tablet for Mid-older and Young Adults

Huang, Chiwu

Due to the intuitive controllability and easy to learn the tablet is a very popular nowadays. Many touch gestures are introduced to enhance the convenience usage on the tablet.
However, how these gestures match with the tasks? Are they understood by the “technological alienation” of the elderly users? Is there difference existing between the elderly and younger people? This study aims to answer these questions. Seven basic gestures and their correspondent tasks were selected from top 3 operation systems. Thirty mid-older subjects including 15 expert users and 15 novice tablet users and thirty young subjects were recruited to do matching test. As a result, we found that the correct rate of the mid-older is significantly lower than the young. Experience in using might affect the correct rate. Certain intuitive gestures including Tap, Swipe, Pinch and Rotation had higher correct rate were considered to be acceptable for both mid-older and young subjects according to the ISO standard. However, only the Pinch gesture for novice mid-older is acceptable. The research suggests that more coaching might be needed for novice mid-older adults on the use of gestures.

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