An investigation into the level of valence offered by different pointing devices against challenging tasks

Pointing devices are the primary media of interaction between humans and computers. The three most popular pointing devices used in computers (both portable and non-portable) are mouse, touchpad and nubs (joystick). They have their different advantages and use cases while being targeted to different user groups. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the aforementioned pointing devices have different effects on human valence. A total of 12 participants were recruited for the experiment. Each participant completed a pointing reaction test with every pointing device aforementioned, where they selected as many randomly appearing circles as possible in a given amount of time. Then, subjective ratings of emotional valence and arousal were collected, and the effects of the pointing device used on these ratings were investigated. Our study shows that the valence rating of using the mouse were significantly higher in challenging scenarios, compared to the likes of touchpad and nub.