Ten-finger typing not necessarily faster, researchers find
Helsinki - The number of fingers used when typing on a keyboard doesn't actually determine the speed of typing, a study by Finnish researchers has found.
People who've mastered the technique of touch typing - using all 10fingers - are not necessarily faster than those who use fewer fingers to type, according to the study carried out at Aalto University in Helsinki.
"We were surprised to observe that people who took a typing course performed at similar average speed and accuracy as those that taught typing to themselves and only used 6 fingers on average," one of the study's authors, Anna Maria Feit, said.
The typing habits of 30 people were examined for the study using special cameras that recorded finger movements during typing.
The researchers found that computer users adjust their typing techniques depending on what task they're performing on the computer.
"The touch typing system was developed for typing sentences on typewriters. It is not advantageous for Photoshop shortcuts or gaming, often done with one hand on the mouse," Feit said.
And although touch typing is not necessarily faster, it does have an advantage over self-taught typing techniques, the study found. People who never studied how to touch type looked at their fingers and the keyboard about twice as often as those who had studied the technique.
- DPA
