Do you normally type looking at the keyboard, or are you an expert who is able to type out words without having to look at your keyboard at all? For those who type for a living, such as writers, it is a skillset that is developed overtime, although interestingly enough it seems that those who type fast might not necessarily know where all the keys are. This is according to a study conducted by the Vanderbilt University which was published in the scientific journal, “Attention, Perception, and Pschyophysics”.The researchers conducted a test in which they asked participants to map out a regular keyboard within 80 seconds. One of the requirements was that the participants had to achieve a typing speed that averaged at least 72 words per minute, and achieved an accuracy of 94%, meaning that not only did they have to type fast, but they had to be accurate as well. The results were actually pretty interesting as it was found that on average, participants only managed to get 57% right, 22.3% wrong, while the remainder of the keyboard they just could not remember.
In the second experiment, participants were shown a simulation in which a single key on a keyboard was blanked out, and those who simulated typing on the picture managed to get 65% right on the first try. It’s a pretty interesting study and it’s something we don’t really think about. What do you guys think? If asked to map out a blank keyboard, how many percent do you think you would score?
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