Eye gaze and movement behaviour in the operation of adaptive in-car touchscreens

The usability of in-car touchscreens with small display areas can be significantly improved if buttons are only displayed or enlarged once the userpsilas hand approaches the display. This survey examines the influence of such adaptive buttons on eye and hand movements in the vehicle. The results show that movement behaviour in the use of both static and adaptive interfaces comprises a number of movement phases whose interplay can be described with the Optimized Initial Impulse Model (OIIM). The adaptive expansion of buttons leads to significantly lower error rates compared with non-adaptive buttons, given comparable movement times. A particular observation was the influence of indicators (visible information on the relevant target prior to start of movement) during the use of adaptive interfaces. It emerges that these contribute to a reduction of the movement times, as they make motion planning easier and thereby significantly increase the precision of the initial movement phase. In addition, this means a clear reduction in eye gaze duration.