COMPUTER MOUSE OPERATION - IS THE LEFT-HANDED USER DISADVANTAGED

A survey of University of Melbourne student-use computers showed that 100% had the mouse installed on the right-hand side. An experiment was performed to determine if the left-handed user was disadvantaged by t his arrangement. Times to move the cursor to targets of different size s and distances showed that left-handed users were not significantly d isadvantaged and that, in accord with other tests, they were as good u sing their non-preferred hand as they were with their preferred hand. As expected, left-handers were superior to right-handed users when usi ng their non-preferred hand. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.