Manual tracking in two dimensions

Manual tracking was studied by asking subjects to follow, with their finger, a target moving on a touch-sensitive video monitor. The target initially moved in a straight line at a constant speed and then, at a random point in time, made one abrupt change in direction. The results were approximated with a simple model according to which, after a reaction time, the hand moved in a straight line to intercept the target. Both the direction of hand motion and its peak speed could be predicted by assuming a constant time to intercept. This simple model was able to account for results obtained over a broad range of target speeds as well as the results of experiments in which both the speed and the direction of the target changed simultaneously. The results of an experiment in which the target acceleration was nonzero suggested that the error signals used during tracking are related to both speed and direction but poorly (if at all) to target acceleration. Finally, in an experiment in which target velocity remained constant along one axis but the perpendicular component underwent a step change, tracking along both axes was perturbed. This last finding demonstrates that tracking in two dimensions cannot be decomposed into its Cartesian components. However, an analytical model in a hand-centered frame of reference in which speed and direction are the controlled variables could account for much of the data.