Title	Cognitive Aspects of Skilled Typewriting [electronic resource] / edited by William E. Cooper
Imprint	New York, NY : Springer New York, 1983
Connect to	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5470-6
Descript	XII, 417 p. online resource

This volume marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of William Book's 1908 The Psychology of Skill, in which typewriting received its first large-scale treatment from a psychological standpoint. As Book realized early on, this form of human behavior is particularly well suited to testing psychological theories of complex motor skill and its acquisition, presentยญ ing as it does a task that richly engages cognitive and motor components of programming, yet involves a form of response output that can be readily quantified. Now that typewriting is practiced so widely in workday circumstances, studying this activity offers the additional prospect of practical applicability. Until recently, relatively few studies had been conducted on the psychology of typewriting. One might speculate that this dearth of interest stemmed in part from the fact that researchers themselves rarely undertook the activity, delegating it instead to the secretarial pool. Psychological research on piano playing has produced a literature more sizable than the one on typewriting, yet the latter activity has probably been practiced for many more total human hours in this century. But contemporary developments in word processing technology have moved the typewriter into the researcher's office, and in recent years interest in accompanying psychological issues has grown

Early History of the Typewriter -- Methods of Typewriting and Keyboard Arrangements -- The Psychology of Typewriting -- Feedback Systems -- Learning to Type -- Retention of Skilled Typing -- Domain of Planning -- Different Input Modes -- Different Output Modes -- Conclusion -- 2. A Glossary of Terms Including a Classification of Typing Errors -- Basic Terms -- Terminology for Letter Sequences -- Specification of Hand, Finger, and Position: The [H,F,P] Triple -- Terminology for Errors -- 3. Studies of Typing from the LNR Research Group -- Studies of Typing: An Overview -- Some Basic Phenomena -- A Cooperative Algorithm Simulation Model of Typing -- 4. A Comparison of Skilled and Novice Performance in Discontinuous Typing -- Experiment 1 -- Experiment 2 -- General Discussion -- 5. Keystroke Timing in Transcription Typing -- Method -- Development of Typing Skill -- Variability in Skilled Typing -- Models of Keystroke Timing -- Discussion -- 6. Error Patterns in Novice and Skilled Transcription Typing -- The Lessenberry Confusion Matrix -- Novice and Expert Confusion Matrices -- The Development of Skilled Typing -- Summary -- 7. Skilled Typing: A Characterization Based on the Distribution of Times Between Responses -- Characterizing Individual Differences -- Characterizing Skill Acquisition -- Characterizing the Effect of a Task Variable -- Characterizing the Effect of a Motivational Variable -- Bringing Fluency Under Experimental Control -- Overall Discussion and Conclusion -- 8. Time, Information, and the Various Spans in Typewriting -- Span Data -- Theoretical Issues -- Concluding Remarks -- 9. Determinants of Interkey Times in Typing -- Hand Movements -- Word Length -- Delayed Response -- Typing Sentences -- Longer Words -- Single-Word Strategies -- General Discussion -- 10. Mirror-Image Movements in Typing -- Method -- Results and Discussion -- 11. Actively Learning To Use a Word Processor -- Method and Overview -- Learning by Thinking -- Learning in an Exploratory Environment -- Finale: Active Learning -- 12. Knowledge of Word Frequency as an Aid for Text Editing -- Case 1 -- Case 2 -- Case 3 -- Case 4 -- Summary -- 13. Certain Problems Associated with the Design of Input Keyboards for Japanese Writing -- Japanese Writing System -- Typewriting in Japan -- Various Typing Methods for Japanese Writing -- Ergonomic Aspects of Various Tasks and Touch Typing -- Touch Typing Viewed as a Choice Versus Reaction Time Paradigm -- Some Two-Stroke Touch-Typing Systems -- Psychophysiological Evaluation of Touch Typing. -- Coding of Kanzis Based on Linguistic and Graphic Structures -- Sound-Based Codes May Not Be Optimal -- Association Codes and Interference With Pattern Typing -- Kana-to-Kanzi Conversion and Inetractive Typing -- Possible Hemispheric Lateralization of Cerebral Functions in Typing -- Toward the Best Method of Copy Typing for Professionals -- Code Array Representation for Two-Stroke Codes -- Evaluation of Codes Based on Hand and Finger Motions -- Some Examples Optimized for Hand and Finger Motions -- Educational Aspects -- Concluding Remarks -- Author Index