Computer mouse weight is associated with one-week motor skill improvement in a large naturalistic video game cohort
- 1Statespace Labs, Inc.
Abstract
Computer mouse weight has been proposed to influence human motor performance, but existing evidence comes largely from small, short-duration controlled studies, leaving its relationship to performance during naturalistic gameplay unresolved. We analyzed one-week skill improvement in Aimlabs, a popular first-person shooter aim-training and assessment platform, among 9,067 players whose telemetry recorded a mouse-model change (switchers) during self-directed game use, using a 21-day baseline and 7-day follow-up; 4,991 players with a single mouse model (non-switchers) observed over matched pseudo-anchor intervals provided a secondary contextual comparison. Post-switch mouse weight was represented by eight bands spanning 35-124 g. The primary multivariable generalized additive regression model accounted for baseline skill, pre- and post-switch practice intensity, and pre- and post-switch mouse sensitivity, and allowed the association between weight band and improvement to vary with baseline skill, post-switch practice, and post-switch sensitivity. For each weight band, predicted mean one-week improvement was standardized to the observed distribution of these covariates among switchers and reported in percentile-rank points. Statistical significance was evaluated using 1,000 permutations in which observed mouse weights were randomly reassigned among switchers without replacement and the model was refitted to generate empirical null distributions for the weight-related test statistics. Predicted improvement differed significantly across the eight weight bands (p = 0.001). Pairwise comparisons identified significant differences between bands (p < 0.05), but no single band was associated with significantly greater predicted improvement than all seven others. In this large naturalistic cohort, predicted improvement was highest for players with 35-44 g mice, followed by 45-54 and 55-64 g, and several pairwise comparisons showed significantly greater improvement in lighter than in heavier weight bands. Across the examined baseline-skill profiles, the lowest predicted improvements occurred in either the 85-99 or 115-124 g band. Predicted improvement differed across weight bands at the 25th-percentile and median baseline-skill values (p = 0.002 and p = 0.003) but not at the 75th percentile (p = 0.153). However, the weight-band x baseline-skill interaction was not significant (p = 0.181), indicating that the analysis did not establish that weight-related differences varied by skill level.
Related
- A multiday outdoor festival combining breathwork and cold water immersion is associated with reduced trait anxiety in a naturalistic pre-post study
- Weight change and longitudinal disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis: a real-world cohort study
- Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Low-Nitrogen Tolerance in Hexaploid Oat Identifies a Suggestive Candidate Locus near P5CDH Associated with Root Dry Weight.
- Case Report: GADA-positive type 1 diabetes with diabetic ketoacidosis in a young adult with obesity temporally associated with unsupervised tirzepatide use for weight reduction
- Chromosomal screening of candidate genes associated with F2 chicken birth weight using the random forest algorithm.
BibTeX
@misc{listman2026computer,
title = {{Computer mouse weight is associated with one-week motor skill improvement in a large naturalistic video game cohort}},
author = {J. B. Listman and W. E. Mackey},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.06.757150},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.06.757150v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Computer mouse weight is associated with one-week motor skill improvement in a large naturalistic video game cohort
AU - J. B. Listman
AU - W. E. Mackey
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.06.757150
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.06.757150v1
AB - Computer mouse weight has been proposed to influence human motor performance, but existing evidence comes largely from small, short-duration controlled studies, leaving its relationship to performance during naturalistic gameplay unresolved. We analyzed one-week skill improvement in Aimlabs, a popular first-person shooter aim-training and assessment platform, among 9,067 players whose telemetry recorded a mouse-model change (switchers) during self-directed game use, using a 21-day baseline and 7-day follow-up; 4,991 players with a single mouse model (non-switchers) observed over matched pseudo-anchor intervals provided a secondary contextual comparison. Post-switch mouse weight was represented by eight bands spanning 35-124 g. The primary multivariable generalized additive regression model accounted for baseline skill, pre- and post-switch practice intensity, and pre- and post-switch mouse sensitivity, and allowed the association between weight band and improvement to vary with baseline skill, post-switch practice, and post-switch sensitivity. For each weight band, predicted mean one-week improvement was standardized to the observed distribution of these covariates among switchers and reported in percentile-rank points. Statistical significance was evaluated using 1,000 permutations in which observed mouse weights were randomly reassigned among switchers without replacement and the model was refitted to generate empirical null distributions for the weight-related test statistics. Predicted improvement differed significantly across the eight weight bands (p = 0.001). Pairwise comparisons identified significant differences between bands (p < 0.05), but no single band was associated with significantly greater predicted improvement than all seven others. In this large naturalistic cohort, predicted improvement was highest for players with 35-44 g mice, followed by 45-54 and 55-64 g, and several pairwise comparisons showed significantly greater improvement in lighter than in heavier weight bands. Across the examined baseline-skill profiles, the lowest predicted improvements occurred in either the 85-99 or 115-124 g band. Predicted improvement differed across weight bands at the 25th-percentile and median baseline-skill values (p = 0.002 and p = 0.003) but not at the 75th percentile (p = 0.153). However, the weight-band x baseline-skill interaction was not significant (p = 0.181), indicating that the analysis did not establish that weight-related differences varied by skill level.
ER -