Rethinking the Dual Gaussian Distribution Model for Predicting Touch Accuracy in On-screen-start Pointing Tasks

Abstract

The dual Gaussian distribution hypothesis has been used to predict the success rate of target pointing on touchscreens. Bi and Zhai evaluated their success-rate prediction model in off-screen-start pointing tasks. However, we found that their prediction model could also be used for on-screen-start pointing tasks. We discuss the reasons why and empirically validate our hypothesis in a series of four experiments with various target sizes and distances. The prediction accuracy of Bi and Zhai’s model was high in all of the experiments, with a 10-point absolute (or 14.9% relative) prediction error at worst. Also, we show that there is no clear benefit to integrating the target distance when predicting the endpoint variability and success rate.