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# SPEED-ACCURACY TRADEOFF Movements requiring both speed and accuracy are governed by a speed-accuracy tradeoff. This means there's a tradeoff between speed and accuracy: emphasizing speed usually negatively impacts accuracy, and vice versa. Research, such as experiments with aiming tasks (Fitts,...

# SPEED-ACCURACY TRADEOFF Movements requiring both speed and accuracy are governed by a speed-accuracy tradeoff. This means there's a tradeoff between speed and accuracy: emphasizing speed usually negatively impacts accuracy, and vice versa. Research, such as experiments with aiming tasks (Fitts, 1954), has shown performers need to slow their movements to maintain accuracy when distance or target size changes. Temporal (timing) accuracy is different than spatial accuracy. Timing accuracy (when a movement happens) can improve with speed, often counterintuitively. Research (Schmidt et al., 1979) shows that increasing speed can decrease timing errors, and increasing or decreasing movement distance can impact timing accuracy improvements. Similar findings exist for spatial accuracy when highly forceful movements are involved, like hitting a ball off a tee (Schmidt & Sherwood, 1982). The speed-accuracy tradeoff has implications for motor skill performance: * If spatial accuracy is the goal (e.g. reaching for an object, computer mouse movements), focusing on speed will negatively impact precision. * If the goal involves temporal accuracy or forceful movements (e.g. a tennis smash) emphasizing speed can improve performance. While these guidelines can be practical, they often don't apply to complex motor skills. Practicing complex skills frequently involves a combination of spatial and temporal accuracy, as well as force. Traditional practice techniques often focus on accuracy in early skill development, which could potentially impede skill development. The learning of complex motor skills benefits from an initial focus on accuracy rather than speed. For example, the commonly used technique of learner pairs practicing a soccer kick, back-and-forth, focuses on getting the ball to a partner, without emphasizing techniques.