keyboard vs. mouse
Bruce Tognazzini“…it takes just as long to decide upon a command key as it does to access the mouse. The difference is that the command-key decision is a high-level cognitive function of which there is no long-term memory generated.”
Fascinating. Apparently, the cognitive task of deciding which shortcut key to hit is more interesting than grabbing the mouse and pointing and clicking, so our brain “forgets” that it took two seconds to figure out which shortcut key we want. Microamnesia. The result is that shortcut keys can feel more satisfying and give the impression of more speed when they really take the same amount of time as just using the mouse. Also, because the mouse doesn’t require any high-level cognitive processing, we can actually remain more focused on the task at hand, meaning it may be more efficient to use the mouse even though using shortcuts feels more satisfying.
This makes me wonder about the efficiency of using Emacs (or Quicksilver). I’ve always tacitly understood shortcut keys as gestures (from my experience with Emacs), but cognitively it seems they aren't gestures in the same way that reaching for the mouse is a gesture. Selecting a shortcut key (or chording a macro) is more abstract than that—it takes the same processing as deciding what command to type next into the shell (something that regularly gives me pause, now that I think of it). I’d be interested in seeing how user skill level plays into all this—maybe chording macros can become as gesture-like as using the mouse? Or maybe those of us who use shortcut keys all the time are even better at deluding ourselves that we’re working more efficiently?
Since coming across these articles via Theocacao a month ago, I’ve tried to focus on using the mouse wherever possible (rather than relying on shortcut keys). I still hit Cmd-S for save (without thinking, as best I can tell), but I keep catching myself pausing (almost imperceptibly) to select a shortcut key for less common operations rather than grabbing the mouse. Or maybe it’s my imagination.
Here are the links to Tog’s articles on the subject: