Optimal Combination of Auxiliary Device Size and its Location on Chopsticks for Food-serving Performance

摘要

Chopsticks are main utensils for daily dining in Asian. A new auxiliary for chopsticks operation had been designed by Lee and Chen (2008) and was validated to successfully transfer people those are experienced in scissors pinching to a correct pincers pinching. This study attempted to further find the optimal combination of auxiliary size and its location on chopstick stems for food-serving performances. Twenty-four male participants experienced in scissors pinching were recruited for the experiment. They were requested to perform three simulated tasks (force, precision and stability) using 6 auxiliary combinations of 3 sizes (1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 cm) and 2 locations (on top of the stems and 1/3 stem-length from the top). Results indicate that only the auxiliary size influenced the performances of chopsticks use. The auxiliary with 1.5 cm in width showed the best performances regardless of auxiliary locations. This finding could be valuable when an auxiliary is used for chopsticks operation.