ABSTRACT
The error prevention effects of “point and call check” are known and it is used in several industries. It is thought that point and call check have several error prevention mechanisms. It is likely that the eye focusing effect of “pointing” is one of them. We investigated if “pointing” had the error prevention effect and the effect is due to the eye focusing. The task was to count the dots on the display. Participants counted the dots with or without pointing to the dots. The density of the dots was controlled (high or low). If error prevention effect of pointing is due to the effect of eye focusing, the error prevention effect was revealed more clearly in high density condition than low density condition that focusing the only target dots is more difficult. As a result, error prevention effect of pointing was seen in only low density condition. These results indicate that error prevention effect of pointing is not due to the effect of eye focusing, but may be due to other error prevention mechanism. One interpretation of these results is pointing has the memory promoting effect. Because the distance between dots is longer in low density condition than in high density condition, remembering the position of each dot is more difficult in low density condition. In consequence, error prevention effect of pointing was seen in only low density condition.
