Motion Element Synthesis—An Assessment

Abstract

An element of motion cannot be specified in isolation but only in relation to other elements in the motion cycle. Adherents to time and motion study principles have assumed that all motions can be analyzed into elements and these additively combined as though each was independent of the others. Studies in which travel distance and manipulation were systematically varied have shown that elements of each interact with the other. Other studies have examined the import of perceptual factors and precision in motion cycles and have arrived at the same conclusion: elements of motion cannot be specified independently but only in relation to the other elements in the cycle. This contention is related to the Gestalt concept that the whole is more than the sum of the parts.