Information Theoretic Models of HCI: A Comparison of the Hick-Hyman Law and Fitts' Law

The Hick-Hyman Law and Fitts’ Law are two surviving human performance principles based on Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) Information Theory. In the early 1980s, Card, Moran, and Newell (1983) presented the laws as design principles for developers to maximize usability in the design of human–computer interfaces. A search of the current human–computer interaction (HCI) literature, however, will reveal that the Hick-Hyman Law failed to gain momentum in the field of HCI, whereas Fitts’ Law received, and continues to receive, substantial attention. This article begins with a discussion the common information theoretical concepts of the two laws, and then examines each law with respect to its origins, theoretical formulation, theoretical development, research, and applications and examines the possible contributing factors responsible for the failure of Hick-Hyman Law to gain momentum in the field. HUMAN–COMPUTER INTERACTION, 2005, Volume 20, pp. 315–352 Copyright © 2005, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Steven Seow recently earned his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at Brown University. He is currently a Usability Engineer at Microsoft Corporation.