title: Contributions of pre-Fitts researchers to goal-directed aiming studies.
abstract: The author aimed to review some of the early research on goal-directed aiming and reaching. R. S. Woodworth's (1899) well known, and often referenced, paper is only one of the research papers, prior to the revolutionary paper of P. M. Fitts ( 1954 ), which had a significant effect on knowledge of human movements. When Fitts' work was published, much of the previous work was forgotten, as the new paradigm paved the way for a better theoretical basis for the understanding of human movement and, in particular, movement times. There was research prior to Woodworth and between Woodworth and Fitts that has made a contribution to understanding of aimed movements. Woodworth gave results that can still be of use today and made a number of postulations about the way that movements are performed. His and other data are reanalyzed in light of modern models, taking regard of the limitations in those experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. erroldot@tpg.com.au
authors.forename: Errol R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009068:Movement; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D011603:Psychophysiology / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*