Effects of line length, orientation angle, and drawing direction on the straight‐line drawing performance of elderly Taiwanese adults during iPad use

The present study investigated the effects of drawing direction (top‐down or bottom‐up) and orientation angle (0°, 60°, or 300°) on the stability of straight‐line drawing with varied line length (5.7, 11.4, or 17.1 cm) of elderly Taiwanese adults. These three independent variables were within‐subject factors. In total, 38 elderly adults participated. The straight‐line drawing task was performed on an iPad using an electronic pen. Straight‐line drawing performance was analyzed using three‐way repeated analysis of variance measures. The results indicated that the error rate was significantly higher in the top‐down condition than in the bottom‐up condition and was higher for the 5.7‐cm line length than for the 11.4 or 17.1 cm lengths. In addition, the average drawing speed in the top‐down condition was significantly greater than that in the bottom‐up condition and was significantly greater at 17.1 and 11.4 cm than at 5.7 cm. The orientation angle also significantly affected the average drawing speed, which demonstrated that the 60° condition yielded a significantly greater speed than the 0° or 300° conditions. Our findings have implications for product design and computer–human interface design for seniors. Further studies are needed to determine whether these findings can be generalized to more complex motor movements and cognitive abilities.