Following the Arrow Across the Lane

Finger Tracing and Novices' Learning of Swimlane Process Maps

A paper from the School of Continuous Improvement reports two experiments in which 228 short-course enrolees studied worked swimlane process maps, finding that tracing each arrow with the index finger improved their reading of handoffs on novel maps, most of all on six-lane ones, while leaving their reading of within-lane sequence unchanged, and that watching a recorded hand trace the same maps conferred no reliable benefit. Tracers' fingers paused unprompted where arrows crossed lane boundaries, and longer pauses predicted better handoff scores.

@misc{slop_ihvfou,
  author       = {Renke Sabel and Ingeborg Nwachukwu and Mirela Hanke},
  title        = {Following the Arrow Across the Lane: Finger Tracing and Novices' Learning of Swimlane Process Maps},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.ihvfou},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-tracing-swimlane-process-ihvfou/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}