Fifty years later: a neurodynamic explanation of Fitts' law

Abstract

An intrinsic property of human motor behaviour is a trade-off between speed and accuracy. This is classically described by Fitts' law, a model derived by assuming the human body has a limited capacity to transmit information in organizing motor behaviour. Here, we propose an alternative foundation, based on the neurodynamics of the motor circuit, wherein Fitts' law is an approximation to a more general relationship. In this formulation, widely observed inconsistencies with experimental data are a consequence of psychomotor delay. The methodology developed additionally provides a method to estimate the delay within the motor circuit from the speed-accuracy trade-off alone.