Fitts’ Law: The Speed vs. Accuracy Trade-off in Movement Skills
By: Dr. Dennis McCormick, Jr.
It has been established that a movement skill can be performed most proficiently by observing the proper sequence, checking for, and reproducing the proper details of the movement, and then performing the movement at the proper tempo for maximum accuracy. When performing movement skills for any sport-related activity, there are three major factors to consider.
1) The first factor is to find a sport professional, like a physical education (PE) teacher to show you the correct pattern of the movement.
2) The second factor is to observe the correct parts of the movement pattern or patterns all together. For example, when observing a basketball shooting skill, you would see a very fluid movement, but the truth of it is there are many parts to it that have been linked together like a chain – The major cues that your PE teacher uses in shooting is BALANCE, EYES, ELBOW, FOLLOW THROUGH (BEEF method of shooting).
3) The third factor is seeing the correct movement, with the proper progressions or cues at the proper tempo or speed.
Once these elements are in place, your PE teacher gives you time to practice the skill at all sorts tempos or speeds to experience the feeling of the proper movement pattern chain. This time is also given to explore personal preferences to be as accurate is you can be. Some students or players will find he or she can perform the movement fast and still be accurate, while others need to slow the pattern chains down to find the same positive results.
The logical next question is, “Can performing the same movement that was so successful at one cadence, improve even more with greater speed to make the movement even better or more accurate?” Schmidt and Wrisberg (2008) reported through the research performed by Paul Fitts in 1954 that as the skill speed was increased, the accuracy of the skill decreased or went down. Your PE teachers talk about this phenomenon weekly with the sport units that you are exposed to from soccer to basketball to volleyball to hockey to lacrosse to baseball/softball. In theory, there is a specific movement speed that will result in maximum results for the basic player. The results will vary with many factors as you develop like height, weight, strength and power.
After learning this information, I wanted to put this theory to the test so I could be a better PE teacher for my students and players. I used my golf swing skills for the research. Here is what I did: I chose a 52-degree golf club (Gap wedge) at 100 yards on all 18 holes of a local golf course. With my golf swing movement patterns mastered, I used three different swing tempos. The first tempo was my regular tempo which was a count of; “One, one-thousand, two” (1 ½ seconds). The second tempo was the fastest tempo hitting the ball in just one second. The last swing was the slowest swing at a tempo of: “One, one-thousand, two, one thousand, three, one thousand” (3 full seconds). After the ball landed on the green, the balls were measured with a tape measure.
The regular, or medium tempo resulted in the closest average distance at 17 feet, 6 inches. The second-best score was the slow tempo and the average distance was 24 feet, 8 inches. The worst scores were found in the fastest tempo with a distance average of 32 feet, 2 inches. So these findings could show that going faster or quicker is not always better. Taking your time and focusing on good balance and control seems to be more valuable. Go ahead and try this yourself with your favorite sport movements (soccer penalty kick, basketball shooting, tennis serve, badminton serve).
Schmidt, R. A., & Wrisberg, C. A. (2008). Motor learning and performance. A situation-based learning approach. (4th ed.). Human Kinetics.
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