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Remembering the orientation of newly learned characters depends on the associated writing knowledge: A comparison between handwriting and typing
Abstract
Recent data support the idea that movements play a crucial role in letter representation and suggest that handwriting knowledge contributes to visual recognition of letters. If so, using different motor activities while subjects are learning to write should affect their subsequent recognition performances. In order to test this hypothesis, we trained adult participants to write new characters either by copying them or by typing them on a keyboard. After three weeks of training we ran a series of tests requiring visual processing of the characters' orientation. Tests were ran immediately, one week after, and three weeks after the end of the training period. Results showed that when the characters had been learned by typing, they were more frequently confused with their mirror images than when they had been written by hand. This handwriting advantage did not appear immediately, but mostly three weeks after the end of the training. Our results therefore suggest that the stability of the characters' representation in memory depends on the nature of the motor activity produced during learning.
... Unlike speech, reading is a later-acquired skill through intensive training and is closely intertwined with handwriting during literacy development 29 . This reading-writing coupling process refines the spatial representations of visual word forms [30][31][32][33] and supports motor memory for written words [34][35][36][37] . Consequently, it is proposed that the brain regions involved in both reading and writing may integrate to contribute to visual word recognition [38][39][40][41] . ...
... These enhanced motoric representations may also play a predictive role in aiding perception 69,73 . Similarly, viewing handwritten words more strongly engages both visual processing and writing-motor areas compared to printed words 36,97 . In this study, while the use of simple stimuli and passive listening minimized explicit motor engagement, it potentially reduced the need for motoric encoding or prediction. ...
... For example, the relative simplicity of the visual task may have lowered the reliance for detailed sensory encoding, particularly given the absence of visually similar distractors or high visual interference. Moreover, stroke-motoric representations might facilitate visualspatial processing, potentially reducing the cognitive load required for visual analysis 36,87 . Additionally, differences in stimulus presentation between tasks could also contribute to the observed disparities. ...
Speech processing involves a complex interplay between sensory and motor systems in the brain, essential for early language development. Recent studies have extended this sensory-motor interaction to visual word processing, emphasizing the connection between reading and handwriting during literacy acquisition. Here we show how language-motor areas encode motoric and sensory features of language stimuli during auditory and visual perception, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) combined with representational similarity analysis. Chinese-speaking adults completed tasks involving the perception of spoken syllables and written characters, alongside syllable articulation and finger writing tasks to localize speech-motor and writing-motor areas. We found that both language-motor and sensory areas generally encode production-related motoric features across modalities, indicating cooperative interactions between motor and sensory systems. Notably, sensory encoding within sensorimotor areas was observed during auditory speech perception, but not in visual character perception. These findings underscore the dual encoding capacities of language-motor areas, revealing both shared and distinct neural representation patterns across modalities, which may be linked to innate sensory-motor mechanisms and modality-specific processing demands. Our results shed light on the sensorimotor integration mechanisms underlying language perception, highlighting the importance of a cross-modality perspective.
... On the one hand, there is evidence that monoscriptal adults have equal difficulty deciding if two mirror-image characters are the same shape, regardless of orientation-signaling the interference of orientation sensitivity-in both their familiar and an unfamiliar script, suggesting that by adulthood, reading mastery in one script suppresses mirror invariance, at least to some degree, for asymmetric characters in unfamiliar scripts, as well [13,14]. On the other hand, monoscriptal adults visually introduced to Braille [15] or to other unfamiliar asymmetric characters [16,17] initially have difficulty recognizing the new characters' correct orientation and require experience or training to do so, suggesting that mirror invariance does not generalize. ...
... In general, children [18][19][20][21] and adults [22] learn to recall and recognize novel characters better through handwriting practice than by tracing or passive viewing. More specifically, several investigations of both young children [23,24] and adults [17,25] learning new written linguistic characters demonstrate that practicing handwriting the characters facilitates the recognition of a character versus its mirror image. ...
... Handedness was not associated with the reversal ratio on any written string, all rs < 0.11, all ps > 0. 17 C-O subtest standard scores were uncorrelated with performance on the three Tests, with the largest r = − 0.11 for the LT, p = .125. ...
... Digital devices are more and more replacing traditional handwriting (Longcamp et al., 2006;Kiefer et al., 2015), and as both writing and reading are becoming increasingly digitized in the classroom, we need to examine the implications of this practice (Mangen and Balsvik, 2016;Patterson and Patterson, 2017). Using a keyboard is now often recommended for young children as it is less demanding and frustrating (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1990;Fears and Lockman, 2018), allowing them to express themselves in written form earlier (Hultin and Westman, 2013). ...
... Using a keyboard is now often recommended for young children as it is less demanding and frustrating (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1990;Fears and Lockman, 2018), allowing them to express themselves in written form earlier (Hultin and Westman, 2013). Be that as it may, handwriting training has not only been found to improve spelling accuracy (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1990) and better memory and recall (Longcamp et al., 2006;Smoker et al., 2009;Mueller and Oppenheimer, 2014), but also to facilitate letter recognition and understanding (Longcamp et al., 2005(Longcamp et al., , 2008Li and James, 2016). Such benefits for learning have been reported irrespective of when writing by hand using a traditional pen or pencil or using a digital pen (Osugi et al., 2019). ...
... It appears that the movements related to typewriting do not activate these connectivity networks the same way that handwriting does. The concurrent spatiotemporal pattern from vision, motor commands, and proprioceptive feedback provided through fine hand and finger movements, is lacking in typewriting, where only a simple key press is required to produce the entire wanted form (Longcamp et al., 2006;James, 2010;Vinci-Booher et al., 2016. In the present study, participants only used their right index finger for typing to prevent undesired crossover effects between the two hemispheres. ...
As traditional handwriting is progressively being replaced by digital devices, it is essential to investigate the implications for the human brain. Brain electrical activity was recorded in 36 university students as they were handwriting visually presented words using a digital pen and typewriting the words on a keyboard. Connectivity analyses were performed on EEG data recorded with a 256-channel sensor array. When writing by hand, brain connectivity patterns were far more elaborate than when typewriting on a keyboard, as shown by widespread theta/alpha connectivity coherence patterns between network hubs and nodes in parietal and central brain regions. Existing literature indicates that connectivity patterns in these brain areas and at such frequencies are crucial for memory formation and for encoding new information and, therefore, are beneficial for learning. Our findings suggest that the spatiotemporal pattern from visual and proprioceptive information obtained through the precisely controlled hand movements when using a pen, contribute extensively to the brain’s connectivity patterns that promote learning. We urge that children, from an early age, must be exposed to handwriting activities in school to establish the neuronal connectivity patterns that provide the brain with optimal conditions for learning. Although it is vital to maintain handwriting practice at school, it is also important to keep up with continuously developing technological advances. Therefore, both teachers and students should be aware of which practice has the best learning effect in what context, for example when taking lecture notes or when writing an essay.
... In a series of imaging studies on preliterate children and adults, it has been showed that brain regions recognized to be engaged during reading are activated more strongly after handwriting training rather than typing (James & Atwood, 2009;James & Engelhardt, 2012;Longcamp, Boucard, Gilhodes, Anton, Roth, Nazarian & Velay, 2008). Similarly, behavioral studies demonstrated that handwriting training, contrary to typing training, boosts recognition of new character in prereading children (Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou & Velay, 2005) and adults (Longcamp, Boucard, Gilhodes & Velay, 2006;Longcamp, et al., 2008). ...
... The data discussed above might offer an additional piece of evidence about the influence of handwriting in learning to read. Recent behavioral studies showed that handwriting training, but not typing practice, improves recognition of new characters both in preliterate children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp, et al., 2006;Longcamp et al., 2008). Similar indications come from imaging studies. ...
... The identification of the alphabet letters and the association to their equivalent sound also benefit from Visuo-Haptic training, as it has been showed that haptic exploration of letters on letter recognition improves reading acquisition Bara, Frendembach & Gentaz, 2010;Bara, Gentaz & Colé, 2007;Bara, Gentaz, Colé & Sprenger-Charolles, 2004;Gentaz, Colé & Bara, 2003). Handwriting practice and Visuo-Haptic training facilitates the visual recognition of letters thus reinforcing the brain's visual-object processing system as argued by the authors of the studies mentioned above Gentaz, 2009;James & Atwood, 2009;Longcamp et al., 2005;Longcamp et al., 2006;Longcamp et al., 2008); yet the inferior frontal gyrus and the fusiform gyrus are brain regions recognized to be involved in phonological processing and reading (Dietz, Jones, Gareau, Zeffiro & Eden, 2005;McCandliss, Cohen & Dehaene, 2003;Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2008). Therefore, it is possible that a specific motor-sensory network is engaged during handwriting practice but not when using the keyboard. ...
This study attempted to bring together the investigation of reading and writing, which have been traditionally considered separately. In particular, our cross-sectional study aimed at outlining the developmental trajectory of reading abilities and handwriting kinematic aspects of children in their first years of school. We collected reading, phonological memory and handwriting data from 102 Italian monolingual children ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 4 of primary school. Reading skills and phonological memory were assessed by means of standardized tests, whereas handwriting was assessed through the examination of a set of kinematic and dynamic descriptors collected by means of a digitizing tablet. The results of the present study provide evidence for a parallel developmental pathway of reading, phonological memory and handwriting (considering the motor features, not the spelling). The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the understanding of developmental disorders and the influence of handwriting in learning to read.
... In the present work, we also used this term when referring to letter-like symbols as those adopted in studies with artificial scripts even if these symbols are not part of natural written scripts. Educational Psychology Review training, regardless of presence or absence of training in phonological correspondences of graphs (i.e., phonological training) and of age of learners (for an overview, see, James, 2017; e.g., Bara & Gentaz, 2011;Gentaz et al., 2003;Guan et al., 2011Guan et al., , 2015James, 2010;Labat et al., 2020;Longcamp et al., 2008;Longcamp et al., 2006;Mayer et al., 2020;Ouellette & Sénéchal, 2008;Seyll et al., 2020;Suggate et al., 2016;Zemlock et al., 2018). The advantage from motor training when learning visual graphs was discovered ~50 years ago (e.g., Jeffrey, 1958;Williams, 1969Williams, , 1975. ...
... Bara et al., 2004;Longcamp et al., 2005;Suggate et al., 2016) or significant differences were exclusive of brain activity (e.g., Cao et al., 2013a, b;James, 2010;James and Gauthier, 2006;Kersey & James, 2013;Zhao et al., 2015Zhao et al., , 2018. Other studies found mixed results (e.g., an advantage from HW training in one particular task of graph recognition but not in others: Guan et al., 2015;Hulme et al., 1987;Labat et al., 2020;Longcamp et al., 2006;Xu et al., 2013;Zemlock et al., 2018;e.g., positive effects only for the older preliterate children: Labat et al., 2010;Longcamp et al., 2005) or did not find any advantage from HW relative to control training (e.g., Jensen & King, 1970;Kiefer et al., 2015;Koenigsberg, 1973;Naka & Naoi, 1995;Williams, 1975). Beyond possible arguments of lack of statistical power and/or sensitivity of behavioral tasks, studies also differ on other factors that may potentially affect the benefit from training, including the methodological parameters (e.g., studies with adults vs. with children; training in a single session vs. in multiple sessions for several weeks; training on real letters without control for exposure in-between sessions vs. on artificial scripts). ...
... It is thus timely to conduct a synthesis that establishes the size of this effect and whether and how it is modulated by other factors (e.g., age of participants; amount of training: Kiefer et al., 2015;Longcamp et al., 2005), hence enlightening the nature of these cognitive mechanisms. Three hypotheses have been proposed: the sensorimotor hypothesis (e.g., Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Longcamp et al., , 2008Yin & Zhang, 2021), the perceptual variability hypothesis (e.g., James & Engelhardt, 2012;Li & James, 2016), and the visual segmental hypothesis (e.g., Courrieu & de Falco, 1989;Koenigsberg, 1973;Seyll et al., 2020). ...
Handwriting (HW) training seems to boost recognition of visual graphs and learning to read more than other learning experiences. However, efects across studies
appear to be variable and the underlying cognitive mechanism has been elusive. We
thus conducted a meta-analysis on 50 independent experiments (with 1525 participants) to determine the magnitude of this HW beneft in visual graph recognition,
while enlightening the underlying cognitive mechanism, by investigating four types
of moderators: training program (type of control training, presence/absence of phonological training, and HW tasks adopted); set size and training regime (duration
and frequency of session and total amount of training); granularity of visual discrimination and perceptual learning tasks; and age of participants. The beneft from
HW training was moderate-to-large and signifcant (Hedge’s g = 0.58, SE = .09)
and was also modulated by the type of control training (larger relative to motor, g
= 0.78, than to visual control, g = 0.37), phonological training (larger when it was
absent, g = 0.79, than present, g = 0.47), and granularity of visual discrimination
(larger for fne-grained, g = 0.93, than coarse-grained, g = 0.19). These results seem
consistent with symbolic accounts that hold that the advantage from HW training in
visual graph recognition is about perceptual learning rather than the motor act. Multiple meta-regressions also revealed that training regime moderated the HW beneft.
We conclude that HW training is efective to improve visual graph recognition, and
hence is still relevant for literacy instruction in the present digital era.
... Longcamp and colleagues directly assessed the impact of typewriting on the construction of letter representation. They conducted behavioral studies that compared recognition performance observed after handwriting and after typewriting (Longcamp et al., 2005b(Longcamp et al., , 2006(Longcamp et al., , 2008. For both preschool children and adults, learning new characters through handwriting led to better recognition and orientation discrimination than learning through typewriting (see Seyll et al., 2020 for similar results). ...
... For both preschool children and adults, learning new characters through handwriting led to better recognition and orientation discrimination than learning through typewriting (see Seyll et al., 2020 for similar results). According to Longcamp et al. (2006), the advantage of handwriting is due to the contribution of the graphic motor programs-i.e., mental descriptions of the sequence of fine movements required to write the letter (van Galen, 1991; see Palmis et al., 2017, for a review)-constructed in memory through writing experience. More precisely, "the detection of a match or a mismatch between the perceived shape and the memorized motor program might contribute to the mirror-normal recognition processes and therefore explain the behavioral facilitation for the characters learned by handwriting" (Longcamp et al., 2006, p. 653). ...
... Distractors used in the 4AFC were visually close to the target symbol (e.g., mirror-reversed symbol and symbol with one feature mislocated). Distractors used in the old/new recognition test consisted exclusively in the mirror-images of the learned symbols (as in Longcamp et al., 2006Longcamp et al., , 2008. The results failed to reveal any clear advantage of handwriting over composition, both leading to better recognition than typing, thus suggesting a significant contribution of the detailed visual analysis in the advantage of handwriting over typing. ...
Based on evidence that learning new characters through handwriting leads to better recognition than learning through typing, some authors proposed that the graphic motor plans acquired through handwriting contribute to recognition. More recently two alternative explanations have been put forward. First, the advantage of handwriting could be due to the perceptual variability that it provides during learning. Second, a recent study suggests that detailed visual analysis might be the source of the advantage of handwriting over typing. Indeed, in that study, handwriting and composition –a method requiring a detailed visual analysis but no specific graphomotor activity– led to equivalent recognition accuracy, both higher than typing. The aim of the present study was to assess whether the contribution of detailed visual analysis is observed in preschool children and to test the variability hypothesis. To that purpose, three groups of preschool children learned new symbols either by handwriting, typing, or composition. After learning, children performed first a four-alternative recognition task and then a categorization task. The same pattern of results as the one observed in adults emerged in the four-alternative recognition task, confirming the importance of the detailed visual analysis in letter-like shape learning. In addition, results failed to reveal any difference across learning methods in the categorization task. The latter results provide no evidence for the variability hypothesis which would predict better categorization after handwriting than after typing or composition.
... Moreover, Longcamp and colleagues argued that the automatic activation of the graphic motor plans during visual processing of letters would be especially helpful in recognizing them and discriminating them from their mirror image (Longcamp et al., 2006(Longcamp et al., , 2008Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, & Velay, 2005). It is well known that discriminating letters from their mirror image is often problematic at the onset of reading acquisition (Cornell, 1985;Dehaene et al., 2005Dehaene et al., ,2010Pegadoetal.,2011;Schott,2007).AccordingtoLongcamp and colleagues, the automatic activation of the graphic motor plans would explain the better recognition observed following handwriting thanfollowingtypinginseveralbehaviorallearningstudies (Longcamp et al., 2006(Longcamp et al., , 2008Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, & Velay, 2005; see also James, 2010). ...
... Moreover, Longcamp and colleagues argued that the automatic activation of the graphic motor plans during visual processing of letters would be especially helpful in recognizing them and discriminating them from their mirror image (Longcamp et al., 2006(Longcamp et al., , 2008Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, & Velay, 2005). It is well known that discriminating letters from their mirror image is often problematic at the onset of reading acquisition (Cornell, 1985;Dehaene et al., 2005Dehaene et al., ,2010Pegadoetal.,2011;Schott,2007).AccordingtoLongcamp and colleagues, the automatic activation of the graphic motor plans would explain the better recognition observed following handwriting thanfollowingtypinginseveralbehaviorallearningstudies (Longcamp et al., 2006(Longcamp et al., , 2008Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, & Velay, 2005; see also James, 2010). They argued that training through typing, by avoiding the enactement of letter-specific graphomotor activity during learning, prevents the construction of graphic motor programs in memory and consequently does not allow graphic motor programs to help to avoid confusions between a letter and visually close graphic shapes. ...
... Consequently, it is possible that handwriting drives the learner to pay closer attention to the graphic shapes to be learned than does typing. A potential difference in the attentional demands incurred by handwriting compared with other learning methods has been envisaged by several authors (e.g., James, 2010;Longcamp et al., 2006;Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, & Velay, 2005;Zemlock et al., 2018), but to our knowledge it has never been directly assessed and the issue remains an open question up until now. ...
Recent studies suggest that letter representations are based on a multimodal network linking the graphic motor programs acquired through handwriting to the visual representations. Moreover, the graphic motor programs are assumed to contribute to letter recognition. This assumption is based on the finding that learning symbols through handwriting leads to better recognition than learning through typing. However, in addition to the type of motor activity engaged, handwriting and typing might also differ in other aspects. Indeed, handwriting requires a more detailed visual analysis of the target symbols, which may account for its learning advantage (Seyll et al., 2020). Moreover, different learning methods might differ in attentional engagement. The present study aimed at measuring and comparing the attentional demands incurred by different learning settings. To this purpose, a dual-task probe paradigm was used: participants had to respond as quickly as possible to auditory probes while learning symbols either through handwriting, typing, or composition-a method requiring detailed visual analysis without graphomotor activity. Reaction times to the probes were used as index of the attentional engagement required by the learning methods. Handwriting led to longer reaction times than typing and composition, suggesting that it requires more attention than both other learning methods. Thus, the recognition advantage of handwriting over typing might be partly attributable to attentional engagement during learning. In addition, the advantage of composition over typing, in the absence of differences in the attentional task, confirms the unique importance of detailed visual analysis in symbol memorization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... These studies have demonstrated that handwriting can facilitate visual learning. Specifically, performance on visual discrimination of patterns (Longcamp et al., 2006;Zemlock et al., 2018), as well as their matching, recognition, and identification (Tan et al., 2005;Wiley & Rapp, 2021; for reviews, see Fernandes & Araújo, 2021;James, 2017) is reported to improve after handwriting training, more than after training using only visual information. Fewer studies have explored the effects of drawing (Adi-Japha & Freeman, 2001), which involves graphomotor production of visual representations (e.g., objects, shapes, etc.) on visual learning. ...
... Although we did not find evidence that graphomotor training contributed to improvement in visual discrimination of objectlike shapes beyond visual training alone, future studies could extend our experimental approach to studying if graphomotor training contributes to other aspects of learning shapes such as their matching (Ben-Ami et al., 2024) or rotation-invariant visual recognition (Li & James, 2016;Longcamp et al., 2006Longcamp et al., , 2008. Additionally, combinations with other sensory modalities during training can be further explored (e.g., haptic and auditory; Bara & Gentaz, 2011;Heller & Gentaz, 2013;Hennion et al., 2005;Martolini et al., 2020). ...
Previous studies have demonstrated that engaging in graphomotor activity for creating graphemes can enhance their subsequent visual discrimination. This suggests a positive influence of the motor system on visual learning. However, existing studies have emphasized the dominant hand, which is superiorly dexterous in fine-motor movements. This near-exclusive focus prompts the inquiry of whether the observed perceptual facilitation is a general characteristic of the motor system, or specific to pathways controlling the skilled over-trained dominant hand. Furthermore, the mechanistic underpinning of visual facilitation from graphomotor training (i.e., the individual contribution of motor activity, temporal evolution of the visual trace, variability of visual output) remain unclear. To address these questions, we assessed visual discrimination capabilities of healthy right-handed participants (N = 60) before and after graphomotor or visual training. Contrary to our initial expectation, graphomotor engagement with the non-dominant hand did not yield additional benefits to visual learning beyond those attainable through visual training alone. Moreover, graphomotor training with the non-dominant hand resulted in visual discrimination improvements comparable to those of dominant hand training, despite the inherent differences between hands in motor performance and in the amount of improvement in shape tracing throughout training. We conclude that the motor components of graphomotor activity may not be critical for visual learning of shapes through tracing activity. Instead, our results are in agreement with the symbolic theoretical account, suggesting that basic shape features required for discrimination can be acquired through visual inspection alone, providing a perspective on the improvements observed in prior studies.
... It develops their ability to take effective notes, communicate clearly in written assignments, and engage in critical thinking. Additionally, handwriting has not only been found to improve memory and understanding (Longcamp et al., 2006), but also to enhance letter recognition and learn new words (Graham & Weintraub, 1996). Developing fluent and legible handwriting can also reduce reliance on technology and promote self-confidence and motivation among EFL learners. ...
... Neuroimaging studies have confirmed the involvement of an extensive network of brain regions in fine motor control, language processing, and higher-order cognition (James & Engelhardt, 2012;Peña et al., 2018). Recent evidence suggests that writing by hand results in more activation in the sensorimotor cortex, premotor cortex, and cerebellum (Longcamp et al., 2006). Moreover, the process of forming letters by hand results in the formation of extensive neural connectivity patterns essential for facilitating learning (Van der Weel & Van der Meer, 2024). ...
This study seeks to examine the salient manifestations of handwriting difficulties experienced by learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), throwing light on the cognitive, neural, and educational aspects of handwriting. Qualitative and quantitative research designs were adopted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the manifestations of handwriting difficulties among EFL learners. In total, 80 college-level EFL students aged between18 to 22 years were included in this study. To investigate the specific manifestations of handwriting difficulties faced by the EFL learner population, data were gathered using a handwriting task given to all participants. The results of this investigation showed that the participants performed less than optimally in key handwriting features, including letter size consistency, legibility, word spacing, letter spacing, letter shape, left margin, and writing speed. Based on the findings, the study concluded with proposed interventions and instructional strategies to enhance the legibility and fluency of EFL learners' handwriting.
... A more successful strategy regarding decisions about letter orientation might rely on visual-motor processes involved directly in graphic reproduction of characters. Indeed, there is evidence showing that learning letter characters by writing them by hand decreases the number of mirror confusions as compared to learning by typing Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mayer et al., 2020). Furthermore, mere visual exposure to letters seems to lead to decreasing numbers of mirror errors (cf. ...
... In particular, the areas involved in handwriting may provide salient cues for the VWFA by activating specific motor program for steering hand movement while writing a particular letter. Some studies confirm such relation showing that handwriting better supports mirror letter discrimination than typing training (Longcamp et al., 2006(Longcamp et al., , 2008. Based on this model, we suppose several senso-motoric experiences that might provide top-down information on canonical letter orientation. ...
Preschool children often confuse letters with their mirror images when they try to read and write. Mirror confusion seems to occur more often in line with the direction of script (e.g., left-to-right for the Latin alphabetic script), suggesting that the processing of letter orientation and text directionality may be interrelated in preliterate age. When children go to school, mirror mistakes in writing/reading letters disappear. Here we ask whether the processing of letter shapes and text direction are still related in readers at different proficiency levels. Literate subjects – school children from the 1st and 4th grades and adults – decided under time pressure whether a displayed letter was oriented correctly or incorrectly (mirrored). We observed that reaction times were faster when a letter was oriented rightward, i.e. in line with the cultural text direction (left-to-right), but we did not find any differences between the groups. We conclude that, even if mirror mistakes disappear during primary school years, letter shapes are still processed in a close relation to the left-to-right reading direction in the Latin script.
... Most adults write using a keyboard and computer. (Longcamp et al., 2005, 2006, Kiefer et al., 2015. Therefore, the amount of time spent writing by hand has been reduced as learning activities are increasingly relying upon digital devices. ...
... However, the contradictory views pointed out by some researchers show the negative effects of relying on digital devices for writing. Compared to typewriting training, handwriting training has not only been found to improve spelling accuracy (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1990) and better memory (Longcamp et al., 2006;Smoker et al., 2009;Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) but also improved letter recognition (Longcamp et al., 2005(Longcamp et al., , 2008. These benefits have been found in traditional handwriting using an ink pen and handwriting using a digital pen (Osugi et al., 2019). ...
Handwriting is an essential and indispensable skill in learning a language. Its importance lies in its being the product upon which the EFL learners' linguistic performance can be judged and evaluated. Students' poor handwriting negatively affects their overall academic achievement. This study investigates the knock-on effects of students' poor handwriting on their performance in the assessment methods of academic courses. It also aims to know teachers' impressions and perceptions about their students' poor handwriting and its relation to their low academic performance. In this study, (N=64) EFL learners (male and female) from levels 2,3,7, and 8 studying the courses (Grammar 2, Writing 3, Research Methodology, and Preparation for International Tests) at King Khalid University, were selected and dictated a text for writing on specific papers designed for writing the English letters and words. The researchers use Smith JC's (2010) six criteria to evaluate learners' handwriting. The results substantiate that those learners whose handwriting is unsatisfactory scored low marks whereas those with good handwriting scored high marks in exams. Based on the findings, the study concludes with recommendations on how students can improve their handwriting to score satisfactory marks in all courses.
... Most adults write using a keyboard and computer. (Longcamp et al., 2005, 2006, Kiefer et al., 2015. Therefore, the amount of time spent writing by hand has been reduced as learning activities are increasingly relying upon digital devices. ...
... However, the contradictory views pointed out by some researchers show the negative effects of relying on digital devices for writing. Compared to typewriting training, handwriting training has not only been found to improve spelling accuracy (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1990) and better memory (Longcamp et al., 2006;Smoker et al., 2009;Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) but also improved letter recognition (Longcamp et al., 2005(Longcamp et al., , 2008. These benefits have been found in traditional handwriting using an ink pen and handwriting using a digital pen (Osugi et al., 2019). ...
Handwriting is an essential and indispensable skill in learning a language. Its importance lies in its being the product upon which the EFL learners' linguistic performance can be judged and evaluated. Students' poor handwriting negatively affects their overall academic achievement. This study investigates the knock-on effects of students' poor handwriting on their performance in the assessment methods of academic courses. It also aims to know teachers' impressions and perceptions about their students' poor handwriting and its relation to their low academic performance. In this study, (N=64) EFL learners (male and female) from levels 2,3,7, and 8 studying the courses (Grammar 2, Writing 3, Research Methodology, and Preparation for International Tests) at King Khalid University, were selected and dictated a text for writing on specific papers designed for writing the English letters and words. The researchers use Smith JC's (2010) six criteria to evaluate learners' handwriting. The results substantiate that those learners whose handwriting is unsatisfactory scored low marks whereas those with good handwriting scored high marks in exams. Based on the findings, the study concludes with recommendations on how students can improve their handwriting to score satisfactory marks in all courses.
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
Engagement with video games can potentially advance student digital competence however, there is a digital skills gap by the time young people progress into adolescence. This current research explores how elementary school students’ digital self-efficacy might relate to experiences in video game environments to influence perceptions of digital competence. We examine the differential impact of sex, self-efficacy, and socioeconomic status (SES) on 7–10-year-old students’ (N = 613) perceptions of video gaming and their digital skills. Analysis revealed the unexpected finding that SES was inversely related to enjoyment for gaming and digital technology, with students in the lower-SES category responding more positively compared to students in higher SES categories. As expected, boys self-reported digital skills higher than girls across all SES categories. We argue for the use of gaming pedagogies to support learning in classrooms that accounts for nuances in students’ digital self-efficacy moderated by gender and SES.
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... In other words, the haptic and visual information is better combined for such tasks, such as letter recognition, than reliance upon visual memory . Similarly, researchers demonstrated that when pre-reading children and adults were learning to recognise symbols and letters, characters that were learned by copying the letters using handwriting were recognised more accurately than symbols that were learned by typing them using a keyboard, which applied to both prereading children (Longcamp et al., 2005) and adults (Longcamp et al., 2006). ...
... A large number of studies compare the haptic dimensions of older technologies, such as handwriting to keyboarding (e.g. Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014) as well as a growing number of studies involving touchscreen tablets for children's learning (e.g. Crescenzi et al., 2014;Neumann & Neumann, 2014;Walsh & Simpson, 2014). ...
... If "cognition is the internalization of externalized action in the environment" (Wartella et al., 2010, p. 123), it is reasonable to argue that hand writing, as a basic manual sensory-motor skill, has direct influences on the way by which word knowledge is acquired ( Van-Hove et al., 2017;Wu and Chiang, 2022). Hand writing play a critical role in language learning, particularly in visual recognition of the shapes of letters and characters (Longcamp et al., 2006(Longcamp et al., , 2008. Early processing of visual word forms is constrained by the interaction of auditory and motor regions of the brain (Sekiyama et al., 2003;Wuerger et al., 2012), which enables hand writing and facilitates auditory and motor integration of visual word forms (Longcamp et al., 2006;Guan et al., 2011;James, 2017). ...
... Hand writing play a critical role in language learning, particularly in visual recognition of the shapes of letters and characters (Longcamp et al., 2006(Longcamp et al., , 2008. Early processing of visual word forms is constrained by the interaction of auditory and motor regions of the brain (Sekiyama et al., 2003;Wuerger et al., 2012), which enables hand writing and facilitates auditory and motor integration of visual word forms (Longcamp et al., 2006;Guan et al., 2011;James, 2017). ...
Learning to write involves integrating motor production and visual perception to develop orthographic representations. This study tries to test the effect of hand movement training as a pathway to neural correlates for L2 Chinese and L2 English readers. Twenty L2 Chinese and 20 L2 English (n = 20) adults participated in both behavioral and electroencephalogram (EEG) experiments. We designed six learning conditions: Hand Writing Chinese (HC), Viewing Chinese (VC), Drawing followed by Character Recognition in Chinese (DC), Hand Writing English (HE), Viewing English (VE), and Drawing followed by Word Recognition in English (DE). Behavioral and EEG results demonstrated that drawing facilitated visual word recognition in Chinese compared to viewing. The findings imply that hand movement could strengthen the neural processing and improve behavioral performance in Chinese character recognition for L2 Chinese learners and English word recognition for L2 Chinese learners. Furthermore, N170 amplitude at the drawing condition was positively correlated with N400 amplitudes. Thus, the early visual word recognition neural indicator (e.g., N170) was predictive of the late neural indicator of semantic processing (e.g., N400), suggesting that hand movement facilitates the neural correlates between early word recognition and later comprehension.
... Ding et al. (2020), for example, found a reciprocal relationship between handwriting fluency and spelling accuracy in Chinese children. Further to this point, many researchers have argued that the reduced time spend on practicing handwriting in the classroom affects children's reading skills, including their ability to recognise, discriminate and memorise letters (Arndt, 2016;Longcamp et al., 2005Longcamp et al., , 2006Mangen & Balsvik, 2016;Preminger et al., 2004). Also practitioners are increasingly worried about children's reading skills, based on a general assumption that learning to write promotes reading. ...
... The choice was based on the letters having an asymmetrical shape, such that the mirror image could be used as a distractor in the letter recognition test. In the letter recognition test (Longcamp et al., 2005;2006), the twelve target letters were shown on a monitor. One target letter was presented together with three distractors (i.e. the mirror image of the target letter, the target letter with an extra stripe, and the mirror image of this modified target letter, Figure 1(a)). ...
A corollary of the increased use of computers at primary school is a decrease in handwriting time, which may adversely affect the ability to recognise and discriminate letters. Our purpose was to examine if in-classroom handwriting and touch typewriting tuition make a difference in the recognition and discrimination of letters in novel readers. 81 Dutch primary school children (4.0 till 6.1 years), participated in this study. They were assigned to either a handwriting, a touch typewriting or an alphabet tuition control group. During three weeks they received two 20-minutes classroom-based tuition sessions weekly. All children were assessed on a recognition and discrimination letter test before and after the tuition sessions. Children recognised and discriminated more letters after tuition, irrespective of the type of training they had received. The novice readers among primary school children did not learn to recognise and discriminate letters better after classroom-based handwriting than after touch typewriting, or alphabet tuition.
... Trois règles de départ : a) commencer par le point le plus haut, b) commencer par le point le plus à gauche, c) commencer par une ligne verticale ; Quatre règles de progression : a) tracer toutes les lignes horizontales de gauche à droite, b) tracer toutes les lignes verticales de haut en bas, c) pour les figures ayant un sommet, commencer par le point le plus en haut et poursuivre vers la gauche en oblique, d) tracer les figures fermées suivant un sens anti-horaire ; Trois stratégies : a) threading , b) ancrage, c) tracer les lignes parallèles à la suite. comparant l'apprentissage des lettres en écriture manuscrite ou en écriture au clavier, les études de Longcamp et collaborateurs (Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, & Velay, 2005 ;Longcamp, Boucard, Gilhodes, & Velay, 2006 ;Longcamp, Boucard, Gilhodes, Anton, Roth, Nazarian, & Velay, 2008) ont indiqué clairement que la réalisation de l'acte moteur contribuait à la reconnaissance des lettres, notamment au traitement de leur orientation. Cependant, l'apport des mouvements d'écriture dépendrait de l'âge. ...
... Cependant, l'apport des mouvements d'écriture dépendrait de l'âge. L'écriture favorisait la reconnaissance visuelle des lettres chez les adultes (Longcamp et al., 2006 ;Loncamp et al., 2008) et les enfants de 5 ans tandis qu'à 3 ans, les mouvements d'écriture ne constituaient pas un apport (Longcamp et al., 2005). Vinter et Chartrel (2009) ont évalué les effets de trois entraînements à la connaissance des formes des lettres sur une tâche de copie de lettres : l'entraînement visuo-moteur (observation d'écriture de lettres puis copie), l'entraînement visuel (observation d'écriture de lettres) et l'entraînement moteur (copie de lettres à partir d'un modèle). ...
L’objectif de l’étude est de déterminer le rôle d’une exploration séquentielle orientée des lettres sur le développement de la compréhension du principe alphabétique auprès d’enfants de 5 ans faibles connaisseurs de lettres. Une procédure classique pré-tests – entraînement – post-tests est utilisée. Les entraînements séquentiels diffèrent quant à la présence-absence de consignes d’exploration orientée (suivant les règles conventionnelles du code écrit) et quant aux modalités sensorielles sollicitées (visuo-haptique, visuo-graphomotrice et auditive). Ainsi, l’exploration peut être visuo-haptique, soit en suivant des règles précises (entraînement visuo-haptique séquentiel orienté, VHso) soit réalisée librement (entraînement visuo-haptique séquentiel libre, VHsl) ou visuo-graphomotrice orientée (entraînement visuo-graphomoteur séquentiel orienté, VGso). Les résultats révèlent que l’exploration orientée VH et VG renforce l’élaboration de la représentation visuelle de la lettre à court terme dans les tâches d’écriture et de reconnaissance d’une lettre dans un pseudo-mot. À moyen terme, dans la tâche d’écriture, l’exploration VG contribue au maintien des représentations procédurales.
... Handwriting connects visual word processing, a milestone for successful reading, with motor and auditory routines (Dehaene and Cohen, 2011). Early processing of visual word forms is constrained by the interaction with auditory and motor regions (Sekiyama et al., 2003;Wuerger et al., 2012;Callan et al., 2014), but the movement of handwriting promotes the integration of visual word forms through motor and auditory routines (Longcamp et al., 2006;Guan et al., 2011Guan et al., , 2021James, 2017). Even though handwriting seems crucial for reading development, 30-50% of children with dyslexia show significant handwriting difficulties (Montgomery, 2008;Di Brina et al., 2018). ...
... The motor system produces variability (via handwriting in this case) that promotes behavioral performance and connects brain systems to functional networks (James, 2017). Moreover, much research with both Chinese beginning readers and native English-speaking adults has demonstrated that handwriting Chinese characters highlights strokes, the basic constituents of the orthographic representation of the Chinese characters, and therefore enhances orthographic recognition, facilitating Chinese learners' reading acquisition (Longcamp et al., 2006;James, 2010;Guan et al., 2011Guan et al., , 2015Guan et al., , 2021. Interestingly, drawing squared shapes or line drawing also seem to enhance cognitive ability in character acquisition among Chinese school-aged children (Tan et al., 2013). ...
Handwriting serves to link auditory and motor routines with visual word processing, which is a hallmark of successful reading. The current study aims to explore the effect of multisensory integration as a pathway to neural specialization for print among typical and dyslexic readers across writing systems. We identified 9–10-year-old dyslexic Chinese children (n = 24) and their typically developing counterparts (n = 24) on whom we conducted both behavioral and electroencephalogram (EEG) experiments. We designed four learning conditions: Handwriting Chinese (HC), Viewing Chinese (VC), Drawing followed by Character Recognition in Chinese (D-C), and Drawing followed by Word Recognition in English (D-E). In both handwriting and drawing conditions, we also designed curved vs. straight-line stimuli. Both behavioral and EEG results showed that handwriting straight line strokes facilitated visual word recognition in Chinese compared to handwriting curved lines. Handwriting conditions resulted in a lateralization of the N170 in typical readers, but not the dyslexic readers. Interestingly, drawing curved lines facilitate word recognition in English among dyslexic readers. Taken together, the results of the study suggest benefits of handwriting on the neural processing and behavioral performance in response to Chinese character recognition and curved-line drawing effects on English word recognition among dyslexic readers. But the lack of handwriting effects in dyslexic readers suggest that students who have deficits in reading may also be missing the link between multisensory integration and word recognition in the visual word form areas. The current study results have implications for maintaining handwriting practices to promote perception and motor integration for visual word form area development for normal readers and suggest that drawing practices might benefit Chinese dyslexic readers in reading English.
... Al respecto, hay un conjunto de estudios que precisan estas diferencias (Aragón-Mendizábal et al., 2016;Dahlström y Boström, 2017;Rogers y Case-Smith, 2002). Las habilidades y los recursos que usa el autor en la escritura digital son diferentes a las de la escritura a mano; incluso, sus bases cognitivas son distintas (Longcamp et al., 2006;Mangen, 2016). ...
El presente estudio explora los aprendizajes logrados por los estudiantes de segundo grado de secundaria en la escritura de textos argumentativos que fue mediada por el docente vía WhatsApp a través del teléfono móvil durante el confinamiento obligatorio por la COVID 19 en el Perú. Los estudiantes, según sus posibilidades en el hogar, escribieron en tres soportes: WhatsApp Messenger, papel (manuscrito) y Word. El estudio es de carácter exploratorio y descriptivo. En total, se analizó un corpus de 52 textos argumentativos producidos por los estudiantes del segundo grado de secundaria. Los resultados muestran que los textos escritos en el procesador de textos Word tienen una puntuación más alta en relación con textos escritos en papel o WhatsApp Messenger, mientras que la escritura en papel (manuscrita) tiene el menor puntaje. Asimismo, la adecuación a la situación comunicativa (tipo textual, registro y género textual) es el criterio mejor logrado por los estudiantes en los tres soportes de escritura, mientras que la puntuación, la argumentación y los aspectos formales del lenguaje siguen siendo un reto para los estudiantes. Cabe destacar que la retroalimentación se brindó por WhatsApp grupal e individual, según las necesidades de aprendizaje del estudiante.
... Due to the vast amount of and the complexity of Chinese characters, there are some commonly used strategies, such as writing in air with an index finger, copying with a pen, and pronouncing their sounds, when students begin learning to write Chinese characters (Hao et al., 2010). Prior studies (e.g., Longcamp, Boucard, Gilhodes, & Velay, 2006) indicated that handwriting would be a sort of perceptual-motor skill and this motor activity could beneficially contribute to memory retention. Because every characters comprised individual shape, pronunciation, and explanation, students are requested to memorize relevant information embedded in the target characters (Shen, 2005). ...
Due to the vast amount of and the complexity of Chinese characters, practice by handwriting is a common and effective strategy in the primary stage of literacy education. Nevertheless, students regard the practice as tedium or labor work, and this mental load leads them to lost interest in practicing to copy and write the characters in the assignments. To further promote students acquisition of Chinese characters, sustaining their interest of practicing acts an important role in the learning process. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to develop a game-based learning system to support students practice by handwriting in a joyful rather than uninterested manner. Under the perspective of interest-driven creator (IDC) theory, the proposed game, called character monster, was designed according to one of three anchored loops: interest loop. The corresponding features with respect to three elements (i.e., triggering interest, immersing interest, and extending interest) are presented in detail. In addition, to examine the effects of the learning system, the experimental design is also identified.
... It has been shown that when participants are exposed to shapes resembling familiar handwritten letterforms the process will activate the premotor brain area, used for writing (Longcamp et al., 2003;Longcamp et al., 2011), this sensorimotor relationship disappear when the letterforms are displayed as printed text (Longcamp et al., 2006;Wiley & Rapp, 2021). Wamain et al. (2012) have demonstrated that the brain handles handwritten letters differently depending on how familiar participants are with the associated hand movements, namely, whether the letters are written by the participants themselves, by others, or whether they are shown as printed text. ...
There is much evidence that familiarity can affect perception of stimuli, with items that are familiar to the individual being preferred and better remembered. Previous research has also shown that familiarity with a typeface increases preference for it, but no studies have evaluated the impact of familiarity in relation to the affect towards handwritten text. For the present study, a two-part experiment (N = 422) was designed to measure how contemporary users of the Latin script perceive handwritten text. The first section was designed to collect specimens of the participants’ handwriting. The second, which was adapted to each participant’s handwriting style, measured implicit judgments of certain familiar letter shapes against unfamiliar ones. Results show that familiarity positively influences the extent to which one judges the friendliness and trustworthiness of handwritten text. Furthermore, the greater the similarity to how one writes a letterform, the greater the observed effect in terms of perceived friendliness. These findings suggest that people have an implicit bias towards handwriting that looks like their own.
... Stimuli included 200 novel symbols. Using novel, unfamiliar symbols is a well-documented approach that controls for individual differences in pretraining symbol knowledge [101][102][103][104] and allows for a cleaner manipulation of visual, auditory, and motor experience with those symbols. The design and selection criteria for these symbols is described in detail elsewhere 26 . ...
Human learning varies greatly among individuals and is related to the microstructure of major white matter tracts in several learning domains, yet the impact of the existing microstructure of white matter tracts on future learning outcomes remains unclear. We employed a machine-learning model selection framework to evaluate whether existing microstructure might predict individual differences in learning a sensorimotor task, and further, if the mapping between tract microstructure and learning was selective for learning outcomes. We used diffusion tractography to measure the mean fractional anisotropy (FA) of white matter tracts in 60 adult participants who then practiced drawing a set of 40 unfamiliar symbols repeatedly using a digital writing tablet. We measured drawing learning as the slope of draw duration over the practice session and measured visual recognition learning for the symbols using an old/new 2-AFC task. Results demonstrated that tract microstructure selectively predicted learning outcomes, with left hemisphere pArc and SLF3 tracts predicting drawing learning and the left hemisphere MDLFspl predicting visual recognition learning. These results were replicated using repeat, held-out data and supported with complementary analyses. Results suggest that individual differences in the microstructure of human white matter tracts may be selectively related to future learning outcomes.
... L'écriture liée contribue au stockage d'unités graphémiques à la place de lettres séparées telles que l'entraînent une écriture scripte ou celle sur un clavier. Les résultats d'une autre étude ont renforcé ce constat, les adultes mémorisent mieux une nouvelle écriture entraînée au moyen du « papier-crayon » qu'au moyen du clavier (Longcamp, Boucard, Guilhodes & Velay, 2006). ...
... Jeder Buchstabe ist in hohem Grad mit spezifischen Schreibbewegungen, jede Wort-Zeichenfolge mit speziellen graphomotorischen Mustern verbunden. Es entstehen räumlich-zeitliche Musterspezifiken, die in vergleichbarer Art nicht beim Tastatur-Schreiben auftreten (Longcamp, Boucard, Gilhodes & Velay, 2006). Verbunden mit visuellen orthographischen Merkmalen können diese spezifischen sensomotorischen Muster anteilig in die orthographische Wissensrepräsentation im Gedächtnis eingehen (Bosse, Chaves & Valdois, 2014). ...
Zusammenfassung. Hintergrund: Besondere Schwierigkeiten im Rechtschreiben weisen ohne geeignete Intervention oftmals eine hohe Stabilität und langfristige Persistenz auf. Digitale Trainingsprogramme bieten vielfältige Übungsmöglichkeiten, wobei die Texteingabe in der Regel über Tastatur erfolgt. Studien verweisen auf die positive Rolle der Handschrift beim Orthografieerwerb. Im Rahmen eines vom BMBF geförderten Forschungsprojektes wurde daher ein Tablet-basiertes Rechtschreibtrainingsprogramm mit handschriftlicher Eingabemöglichkeit und direktem Feedback über die Wortkorrektheit entwickelt und angewendet. Methoden: Nach einer erfolgreichen Machbarkeitsstudie 2015/2016 im häuslichen Umfeld (n = 9, zweite bis fünfte Klasse) wurde das weiterentwickelte Programm in der Hauptstudie 2019/2020 mit rechtschreibschwachen Kindern (Prozentrang PR >≤ 16 im DERET) der dritten und vierten Jahrgangsstufe im schulischen sowie häuslichem Kontext eingesetzt (Covid19-bedingter Ortswechsel). Ergebnisse: Bei Kindern mit einer sehr niedrigen Rechtschreibausgangsleistung (Prozentrang >≤ 16) zeigte sich eine signifikante Verbesserung der Rechtschreibfertigkeiten in der Trainings- (n = 14) im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe (n = 27) – bei hoher Programmakzeptanz. Diskussion: Die Kombination von digitalem Medium und handschriftlicher Eingabemöglichkeit mit direktem Fehlschreibungs-Feedback ermöglicht rechtschreibschwachen Kindern eine effektive und gut in den schulischen bzw. häuslichen Alltag integrierbare Unterstützung beim Orthografieerwerb.
... In terms of the empirical evidence, numerous studies in neuroscience, experimental psychology, and writing have found differences in learning and performance in the two writing environments. Thus, various studies have found the advantage of pen-and-paper writing over computer writing in improving spelling (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1990) as well as letter and word learning (Ihara et al., 2021;Longcamp et al., 2006). In addition, a recent study by Askvik et al. (2020) showed that, as compared to typing, handwriting was associated with increased activation in the brain areas important for memory and learning. ...
It is unknown whether and to what extent cognitive individual differences may play different roles in paper versus computer-based second language (L2) writing. This exploratory study is a first attempt to explore this issue, focusing on the effects of working memory and language aptitude on the quality of paper versus computer-based L2 writing performance. Forty-two Spanish learners of L2 English performed a problem-solving task either digitally or on paper, took a working memory n-back test, and completed LLAMA tests to measure language aptitude. The quality of their L2 written texts was assessed in terms of complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) measures. The results indicated that the role of cognitive individual differences may vary depending on the writing environment.
... Cette meilleure mémorisation avec l'écriture manuscrite a été observée avec des enfants (Longcamp, Zerbato-Poudou, et al., 2005) et des adultes (Mangen et al., 2015), avec des lettres (Mayer et al., 2020), des mots (Mangen et al., 2015) et des pseudo-lettres (Longcamp et al., 2006 La production manuscrite entrainerait en effet la construction d'une représentation motrice pour chaque lettre ce qui n'est pas le cas pour la dactylographie, au regard de la théorie de la cognition incarnée. Par une intégration des informations visuelles relatives à la forme des lettres aux informations sensorimotrices, l'écriture manuscrite créerait une représentation multimodale des lettres (Longcamp, Anton, et al., 2005 ;Mayer et al., 2020). ...
Avec la généralisation des outils numériques, l’ordinateur tend de plus en plus à remplacer l’écriture manuscrite dans la majorité des activités scolaires et académiques faisant appel à l’écriture (e.g., rédaction, prise de notes, évaluations, etc.). Évaluer son niveau de maîtrise et comprendre ses conséquences sur ces activités est donc indispensable, d’un point de vue théorique, mais aussi pédagogique. Cette thèse a eu pour premier objectif d’évaluer le niveau de maîtrise de la frappe au clavier par rapport à l’écriture manuscrite et son impact sur l’activité en cours. Le niveau de maîtrise de la frappe au clavier a été évalué via l’effort cognitif avec le paradigme des temps de réaction secondaires à une tâche de copie (Expérience 1), puis les performances de rappel dactylographique et manuscrite à une tache de mémorisation à court terme ont été évaluées (Expériences 2a et 2b). Le second objectif de cette thèse a été d’étudier les conséquences de cette différence de maîtrise sur la production de texte lorsque les demandes de la planification, de la traduction et du contrôle augmentent également (Expériences 3, 4 et 5). Spécifiquement, les conséquences sur la coordination des processus rédactionnels via les périodes d’exécution et sur la qualité textuelle ont été évaluées. Les résultats montrent d’une part que le coût cognitif de la dactylographie est plus élevé que celui de l’écriture manuscrite chez des étudiants de Licence et que ce coût a impacté la performance de rappel à une tâche de mémoire à court terme. D’autre part, les rédacteurs qui ont utilisé un ordinateur rédigeaient leur texte avec moins de coordination parallèle des processus, et produisaient des textes de moindre qualité lexicale, syntaxique et orthographique mais en maintenant la qualité globale de leur texte. Les résultats révèlent aussi que la coordination parallèle des processus se déroule principalement pendant les périodes d’exécution de production et que les processus qui interviennent le plus pendant ces périodes d’exécution sont la transcription et la traduction.
... Given the results, several aspects of this study should be further explored. While the impact on the students' performance was previously evaluated and has proven to have a positive impact in rhythmic and interval dictation exams, the influence of using an ICT tool instead of the conventional pen-and-paper presentation for other students' competencies has yet to be explored similarly to the writing versus typing problem (e.g., [31][32][33]). ...
This paper presents a new version and a three-month evaluation of the Troubadour platform—an open-source music theory ear training platform. Through interviews with teachers, we gathered the most-needed features which would aid their use of the platform. In the new version of the Troubadour platform, we implemented different types of interaction, including class management, re-occurring homework and challenges. Previous research has shown a significant improvement in the students’ performance while using the platform. However, the short time span of the previous experiments has not shown whether these results can be attributed to the novelty bias. To evaluate the efficacy of the platform beyond its novelty bias, we performed a three-month-long evaluation experiment on the students’ interaction through questionnaires and platform-collected data. We collected data on their engagement with the platform. During the experiment, the students attended the school through online courses during the first part of the evaluation, and in-class in the second part. In this paper, we investigate the students’ engagement during the three-month period, explore the influence of the platform’s use in-class versus online learning process, analyze the students’ self-report on their practice habits and compare them with the collected data. The results showed high student engagement during the lockdown period, while the in-class process showed a decrease in the platform’s use, unveiling the students’ need for such platform as a complementary learning channel in remote learning.
... En accord avec cette hypothèse, plusieurs études montrent que le geste graphomoteur facilite l'apprentissage de nouvelles lettres et de nouveaux mots. Par exemple, un apprentissage manuscrit améliore la reconnaissance de nouvelles lettres comparativement à un apprentissage tapuscrit chez l'adulte comme chez l'enfant (Longcamp et al., 2005(Longcamp et al., , 2006(Longcamp et al., , 2008. Ce bénéfice est également retrouvé pour l'apprentissage de nouveaux mots quand ceux-ci sont appris par copie (Bosse et al., 2014;Ouellette, 2010;Shahar-Yames & Share, 2008). ...
Alors que l’influence des habiletés langagières sur l’apprentissage du langage écrit fait consensus, plusieurs études tendent à montrer que certaines habiletés non-langagières, telles que la motricité fine et les habiletés rythmiques, jouent également un rôle dans cet apprentissage. Ce travail de thèse s’inscrit dans la continuité de ces travaux et cherche à la fois à confirmer l’influence des habiletés motrices et rythmiques sur différentes dimensions du langage écrit, et à examiner les mécanismes qui sous-tendent ces effets chez des élèves du CE2 au CM2 avec ou sans troubles des apprentissages. L’objectif final de ce travail était d’évaluer les bénéfices d’une intervention ciblant ces habiletés au travers d’un jeu vidéo sur l’apprentissage de l’écrit, dans le but d’ouvrir la voie vers de nouvelles pistes de remédiation pour les élèves présentant des difficultés de lecture et d’écriture. Afin d’apporter un éclairage sur les relations entre ces deux habiletés non-langagières et l’apprentissage de l’écrit, trois études corrélationnelles ont été menées chez des élèves de CE2 et CM1 sans difficultés d’apprentissage, et ont permis de confirmer les liens entre les habiletés motrices et rythmiques, et différentes dimensions du langage écrit (lecture et orthographe de mots, compréhension écrite et rédaction). Deux facteurs explicatifs de ces relations ont été identifiés grâce à une méthode de modélisation par équations structurales : l’automatisation de l’écriture manuscrite, qui sous-tend l’effet de la motricité à la fois sur la production écrite et sur la lecture de mots, et les fonctions exécutives, qui expliquent les effets des habiletés motrices et rythmiques sur l’ensemble des dimensions du langage écrit évaluées. Par ailleurs, nous avons cherché dans un deuxième temps à identifier les conséquences de difficultés motrices et/ou rythmiques associées à un trouble de l’apprentissage du langage écrit. Les résultats révèlent que dans cette population, une altération de ces habiletés non-langagières se traduit par une aggravation du déficit du traitement orthographique par rapport à un trouble isolé, ce qui conforte l’hypothèse d’une influence de ces deux habiletés sur l’apprentissage du langage écrit. Enfin, dans un troisième temps, les bénéfices d’une intervention basée sur la pratique d’un jeu vidéo ciblant les habiletés motrices ont été évalués. Bien que les résultats de l’étude ne permettent pas de démontrer clairement les bénéfices d’un tel entraînement, tant soit sur la motricité que sur l’apprentissage du langage écrit, les analyses exploratoires suggèrent que l’intervention pourrait être bénéfique pour les élèves présentant des difficultés motrices. En conclusion, l’ensemble des travaux réalisés dans cette thèse apporte un nouvel éclairage sur les liens entre les habiletés motrices et rythmiques, et l’apprentissage de l’écrit. Ce travail souligne la nécessité de tenir compte de ces deux compétences non-langagières dans l’étude de cet apprentissage.
El presente trabajo se ve motivado por la influencia de la tecnología y los medios en adolescentes, su impacto educativo y las nuevas demandas sociales. En este contexto, apostar por la escritura manual para lograr un adecuado desarrollo neurológico en el adolescente se convierte en un reto necesario. Desde una visión didáctica, se aportan las principales claves grafológicas para mostrar aspectos de la personalidad de un adolescente y facilitar la comprensión sobre cómo son y cómo se comportan estos jóvenes. Además, en el ámbito de la prevención, la grafología permite identificar y detectar posibles signos de alarma sobre los que intervenir en el plano socioeducativo y familiar. Las nuevas transformaciones sociales exigen un cambio en los enfoques pedagógicos desde la educación. A lo largo del estudio se pone de manifiesto la necesidad de controlar el uso de pantallas y poner en valor la escritura a mano para conocer y acompañar a los adolescentes en esta etapa clave de maduración evolutiva.
The rise of the digital era has led to a decline in handwriting as the primary mode of communication, resulting in negative effects on handwriting literacy, particularly in complex writing systems such as Chinese. The marginalization of handwriting has contributed to the deterioration of penmanship, defined as the ability to write aesthetically and legibly. Despite penmanship being widely acknowledged as a crucial factor in predicting language literacy, research on its evaluation remains limited, with existing assessments primarily dependent on expert subjective ratings. Recent initiatives have started to explore the application of convolutional neural networks (CNN) for automated penmanship assessment. In this study, we adopted a similar approach, developing a CNN-based automatic assessment system for penmanship in traditional Chinese handwriting. Utilizing an existing database of 39,207 accurately handwritten characters (penscripts) from 40 handwriters, we had three human raters evaluate each penscript’s penmanship on a 10-point scale and calculated an average penmanship score. We trained a CNN on 90% of the penscripts and their corresponding penmanship scores. Upon testing the CNN model on the remaining 10% of penscripts, it achieved a remarkable performance (overall 9.82% normalized Mean Absolute Percentage Error) in predicting human penmanship scores, illustrating its potential for assessing handwriters’ penmanship. To enhance accessibility, we developed a mobile application based on the CNN model, allowing users to conveniently evaluate their penmanship.
Il contributo proposto vuole restituire l'esperienza del progetto "Distretto X: Domani ti scrivo", azione di partecipazione museale promossa dalla Direzio-ne Cultura del Comune di Milano e dalla Fondazione Scuola del Patrimonio con il sostegno di Poste Italiane. Il progetto ha esplorato nuove pratiche di coinvolgimento dei giovani nella creazione di narrazioni museali, promuo-vendo la partecipazione attiva dei giovani e degli anziani riflettendo sugli stereotipi giovanili grazie all'analisi di un corpus di più di cinquecento lettere. Attraverso l'utilizzo di metodologie partecipative, che avevano come mez-zo lo scambio di lettere tra giovani e anziani, il progetto ha sfatato stereotipi comuni e ha evidenziato la sensibilità e la curiosità dei giovani nei confronti dello scambio intergenerazionale, l'importanza della famiglia e della parteci-pazione artistica. Il progetto ha creato rapporti intergenerazionali significa-tivi e ha coinvolto il territorio milanese attraverso la distribuzione delle car-toline contenenti estratti delle corrispondenze.
Trubadur je odprtokodna platforma za urjenje glasbenega posluha z avtomatiziranimi vajami ritmičnega in intervalnega nareka. Platformo smo ovrednotili z dijaki Konservatorija za glasbo in balet Ljubljana v šolskih letih 2018/19–2020/21. Rezultati evalvacije so pokazali, da lahko uporaba platforme poveča uspešnost pri testih in predstavlja dopolnitev učenja na daljavo.
This study identifies the challenges and positive outcomes from a temporary shift in a Chinese language class to remote delivery format during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers’ interviews and students’ online survey were used to describe the experience with “emergency remote education” from both the instructors’ and students’ perspectives. The results indicate students’ varying perception of online learning, reflected in the students’ attention, anxiety, and contentment with the learning process. While technical issues and Chinese character handwriting were identified as the biggest challenges, online consultations via chat and the online submissions of assignments were identified as techniques transferable to face-to-face instruction.
Résumé La revue de question de Hildreth (1950) montre que l’on a initialement tenté d’expliquer l’écriture en miroir par des caractéristiques individuelles, fixes (ex. main d’écriture, genre) ou variables (ex. ressources attentionnelles disponibles au moment de l’écriture). La présente recherche s’est focalisée sur l’étude de l’inversion gauche-droite des chiffres par les enfants tout-venant de cinq à sept ans. Pour cela, on leur a demandé d’écrire sous dictée les chiffres (de 1 à 9, mais pas dans leur ordre naturel). Les résultats de l’expérience 1 n’étayent nullement l’influence des caractéristiques précédentes. En revanche, ils montrent que l’écriture en miroir se réduit considérablement d’un niveau scolaire (Grande Section de maternelle) au suivant (première année d’école obligatoire) et affecte inégalement les différents chiffres (3 beaucoup plus que 4). Ils suggèrent aussi que l’écriture en miroir est extrêmement sensible à l’amorçage moteur. En fait, pour une proportion importante d’enfants de cinq ans, tout semble se passer comme si l’orientation qu’ils donnent aux chiffres était déterminée par le geste moteur juste précédent. Ainsi, et de manière spectaculaire, l’expérience 2 a établi que 3 est plus fréquemment écrit en miroir s’il suit une écriture correcte de 6 (63 % d’écritures en miroir de 3) que s’il suit une écriture en miroir de 6 (23 % d’écritures en miroir de 3). L’ensemble des résultats remet en question certaines hypothèses majeures découlant de la revue de question de Hildreth.
An analysis of the errors made by a skilled female typist led to the identification of error factors that often act conjointly. Substitution errors indicated that she had acquired a cognitive map of the keyboard and then controlled her fingers by spelling the to-be-typed words covertly. Accordingly, some typographical errors were attributed in part to errors of inner speech. Intrusion errors revealed both habit factors and a response perseveration tendency. A handedness effect and omission errors indicated response error factors, and transpositions indicated temporal error factors. The skilled typist was thus viewed as having learned to inhibit error tendencies, and errors such as antedating response and doubling were interpreted in terms of disinhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Five experiments were conducted to examine whether varying certain perceptual attributes of study and test items influences priming on pictorial tasks. Priming was found to be specific to the form of studied items; substantial priming occurred from studying pictures, whereas little or no priming occurred from studying the pictures' names (read or generated). Priming was specific to the exact contour presented at study. Studying the same fragment that was presented at test resulted in greater priming than did studying an intact image or a different fragment of the object. Priming was also specific to the viewing angle of studied objects. Same study–test views showed the greatest priming, whereas priming across different views was greater when Ss studied an unusual view of the object and were tested on a canonical view than when the reverse was true. Together, these data suggest that priming is mediated by representations that are presemantic, highly specific, structural descriptions of objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Object recognition was studied in a 19-yr-old male patient who presented severe multimodal amnesia and agnosia without significant intellectual, linguistic or perceptual deficits. Bilateral temporal lobe lesions involved medial, polar and anterior infero-temporal structures. Although visual recognition was impaired to various extents for all categories of objects, preservation of certain capacities were demonstrated. In particular, the patient was able to determine specifically how to manipulate certain objects, in spite of his incapacity to define their function or their context of utilization. It is argued that object recognition involves different processing modes such that when direct access to representations of an object is impaired, sensorimotor information activated via alternative cortical and subcortical pathways may provide a limited mechanism for recognition.
REPRESENTS AN EFFORT TO EXTEND THE SUBTRACTIVE METHOD OF DONDERS TO THE ANALYSIS OF DEPTH OF PROCESSING IN SIMPLE CLASSIFICATION TASKS. THE STIMULI ARE ALWAYS PAIRS OF ITEMS (LETTERS, NONSENSE FORMS, DIGITS) TO WHICH S MUST RESPOND "SAME" OR "DIFFERENT" AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. LEVELS OF INSTRUCTION ARE PHYSICAL (E.G., AA), NAME (E.G., AA), AND RULE IDENTITY (E.G., BOTH VOWELS). BY USE OF THE SUBTRACTIVE METHOD, TIMES FOR MATCHES AT EACH LEVEL ARE ANALYZED. THE EMPHASIS IS NOT PLACED UPON THE TIMES THEMSELVES BUT UPON THEIR RELEVANCE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE OPERATIONS AND MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN PERCEPTUAL MATCHING, NAMING, AND CLASSIFYING. (23 REF.)
Reports experiments designed to explore the relationship between the more aware autobiographical form of memory that is measured by a recognition memory test and the less aware form of memory that is expressed in perceptual learning. Ss were 247 undergraduates. Variables such as the level of processing of words during study influenced recognition memory, but not subsequent perceptual recognition. In contrast, variables such as the number and the spacing of repetitions produced parallel effects on perceptual recognition and recognition memory. It is suggested that there are 2 bases for recognition memory. If an item is readily perceived so that it seems to "jump out" from the page, the S is likely to judge that it has been seen in the experimental situation. The 2nd basis for recognition memory involves elaboration of a word's study context and depends on such factors as level of processing during study--factors not important for perceptual recognition of isolated words. Effects of study on perceptual recognition appear to be totally due to memory for physical or graphemic information. Results are also relevant to theories of perceptual learning. Effects of study on perceptual recognition partly depend on the same variables as do effects on more standard memory tests. (59 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Learning a motor skill sets in motion neural processes that continue to evolve after practice has ended, a phenomenon known as consolidation. Here we present psychophysical evidence for this, and show that consolidation of a motor skill was disrupted when a second motor task was learned immediately after the first. There was no disruption if four hours elapsed between learning the two motor skills, with consolidation occurring gradually over this period. Previous studies in humans and other primates have found this time-dependent disruption of consolidation only in explicit memory tasks, which rely on brain structures in the medial temporal lobe. Our results indicate that motor memories, which do not depend on the medial temporal lobe, can be transformed by a similar process of consolidation. By extending the phenomenon of consolidation to motor memory, our results indicate that distinct neural systems share similar characteristics when encoding and storing new information.
Previous research has demonstrated that the primate CNS has the ability to learn and store multiple and conflicting visuo-motor maps. Here we studied the ability of human subjects to learn to make reaching movements while interacting with one of two conflicting mechanical environments as produced by a robotic manipulandum. We demonstrate that two motor maps may be learned and retained, but only if the training sessions in the tasks are separated by an interval of approximately 5 hr. If the interval is shorter, learning of the second map begins with an internal model appropriate for the first task and performance in the second task is significantly impaired. Analysis of the after-effects suggests that with a short temporal distance, learning of the second task leads to an unlearning of the internal model for the first. With the longer temporal distance, learning of the second task starts with an unbiased internal model, and performance approaches that of naives. Furthermore, the memory of the consolidated skill lasts for at least 5 months after training. These results argue for a distinct change in the state of resistance of motor memory (to disruption) within a few hours after acquisition. We suggest that motor practice results in memories that have at least two functional components: soon after completion of practice, one component fades while another is strengthened. A further experiment suggests that the hypothetical first stage is not merely a gateway to long-term memory, but also temporary storage for items of information, whether new or old, for use in the near-term. Our results raise the possibility that there are distinct neuronal mechanisms for representation of the two functional stages of motor memory.
The functional equivalence of overt movements and dynamic imagery is of fundamental importance in neuroscience. Here, we investigated the participation of the neocortical motor areas in a classic task of dynamic imagery, Shepard and Metzler's mental rotation task, by time-resolved single-trial functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). The subjects performed the mental-rotation task 16 times, each time with different object pairs. Functional images were acquired for each pair separately, and the onset times and widths of the activation peaks in each area of interest were compared to the response times. We found a bilateral involvement of the superior parietal lobule, lateral premotor area, and supplementary motor area in all subjects; we found, furthermore, that those areas likely participate in the very act of mental rotation. We also found an activation in the left primary motor cortex, which seemed to be associated with the right-hand button press at the end of the task period.
We used positron emission tomography to examine learning and retention of timed motor sequences. Subjects were scanned during learning (LRN) and baseline (ISO) on 3 d: day 1, after 5 d of practice (day 5) and after a 4 week delay (recall). Blood flow was compared across days of learning and between the LRN and ISO conditions. Overall, significant changes in activity were seen across days for the LRN condition, but not the ISO baseline. Day 1 results revealed extensive activation in the cerebellar cortex, particularly lobules III/IV and VI. Day 5 results showed increased activity in the basal ganglia (BG) and frontal lobe, with no significant cerebellar activity. At recall, significantly greater activity was seen in M1, premotor, and parietal cortex. Blood flow in the cerebellum decreased significantly between day 1 and recall. These results reveal a dynamic network of motor structures that are differentially active during different phases of learning and delayed recall. For the first time our findings show that recall of motor sequences in humans is mediated by a predominantly cortical network. Based on these results, we suggest that during early learning cerebellar mechanisms are involved in adjusting movement kinematics according to sensory input to produce accurate motor output. Thereafter, the cerebellar mechanisms required for early learning are no longer called into play. During late learning, the BG may be involved in automatization. At delayed recall, movement parameters appear to be encoded in a distributed representation mediated by M1, premotor, and parietal cortex.
Letter orientation confusions (reversals) in the reading and writing of 10-year-old children with and without reading disability were investigated to determine whether reading disability is associated with letter orientation errors and to identify the nature of the errors. In a variety of tasks measuring letter orientation confusions in reception (reversal detection and recognition) and production (controlled writing, copying), individuals with reading disability made more orientation confusions than average readers. Orientation errors were more frequent for reversible than for nonreversible items in tasks involving long-term memory processes. The results did not appear to be related to group differences in attention or speed of motor responding. Possible sources of orientation confusions, including deficient magnocellular system processing, mislabeling, and overreliance on visual strategies, are discussed.
A large body of data supports the view that movement plays a crucial role in letter representation and suggests that handwriting contributes to the visual recognition of letters. If so, changing the motor conditions while children are learning to write by using a method based on typing instead of handwriting should affect their subsequent letter recognition performances. In order to test this hypothesis, we trained two groups of 38 children (aged 3-5 years) to copy letters of the alphabet either by hand or by typing them. After three weeks of learning, we ran two recognition tests, one week apart, to compare the letter recognition performances of the two groups. The results showed that in the older children, the handwriting training gave rise to a better letter recognition than the typing training.
The intention here is to focus on some motor-oriented approaches to the spatial functions of the brain and to see how far they contribute to our understanding of the way in which the internal metric of spatial information is neurally encoded. A motor-oriented approach assumes that the principal metric for coding
Almost everyone would agree that the course of forgetting is some curvilinear function of time. The purpose of the research described herein was to identify the nature of that function. Three experiments are reported, two involving human subjects and one involving pigeons. The human experiments investigated this issue using recall of words and recognition of faces, whereas the pigeon experiment employed the standard delayed matching-to-sample task. In all cases, the course of forgetting was best described by a simple power function of time relative to five other reasonable alternatives (linear, exponential, exponential-power, hyperbolic, and logarithmic). Furthermore, a reanalysis of Ebbinghaus's (1885) classic savings function showed that it, too, declines as a power function of time. These findings suggest that the form of forgetting is a relatively robust property of memory performance and that its mathematical description, perhaps only coincidentally, matches that of the psychophysical function.
Chinese characters are composed of a number of strokes, varying from 1 to 23. The strokes of each character have to be written in a precise order, which is codified in a number of rules, and which is learned in the process of literacy acquisition. The present study tested the hypothesis that stroke writing order has been coded in memory as an essential component of the orthographic knowledge of a character, and that this specific motor schema is used as a cue in lexical retrieval. In the first experiment reported here, fragments of Chinese characters consisting of “early” or of “late” strokes (namely strokes which are written first or last during writing) were pre-exposed to target characters to be named as fast as possible. The results indicated that “early” strokes were better retrieval cues for character names than “late” strokes. In the second experiment, subjects were requested to make same-different judgements about two characters which had in common either “early” or “late” strokes. Different characters sharing “early” strokes were more frequently erroneously judged as being identical than characters sharing “late” strokes.
The aim of the present study is to examine the contribution of two independent spatial reference systems in the manipulation of writing instruments. One system relates to the anatomical structure of the arm and the hand (resulting in preferences for oblique, i.e., diagonal movement directions) while the other corresponds with a more abstract, geometrical system (resulting in a bias favouring orthogonal, i.e., vertical and horizontal movement directions). Three experiments are reported in which the independence of these two reference systems is explored in drawing tasks in which subjects produced small back-and-forth movements in a variety of directions. The outcome of the first experiment showed that stroke-direction variability is larger in horizontal than in other directions. In experiment 2 it was predicted that when subjects are forced to choose repeatedly among a set of 16 different directions, a change of arm position would affect the pattern of preferences for oblique directions more than the pattern of preferences for orthogonal directions. The data confirm this hypothesis. In experiment 3 we analysed the changes in stroke-direction preferences as a function of variations in the type and the size of the movements to be produced as well as the effects of visual control of the motor task on the subjects' choice of movement directions. This last experiment provides additional evidence for the view that geometrical and anatomical reference systems must be distinguished. Finally, a frame-by-frame analysis of video-recordings of hand and finger movements indicates that the two anatomical subsystems cooperate consistently and predictably during the production of different movement directions.
Progressions when copying shapes can be regarded as forming a path, with choices to be made at points along the path. Paths can be described in terms of rules that specify what to do at the start (e.g., start at the top rather than the bottom, with a vertical rather than a horizontal stroke) and in general (e.g., draw with a continuous line rather than a broken pattern). Such rules describe consistencies in the paths children and adults follow. They also allow us to describe age changes in terms of hierarchies of shifting rules, design differences in terms of conflict between rules, and errors (left-right reversals) in terms of the need to amend the usual rules. The results point to the advantages of treating graphic behavior as syntactic behavior and to the feasibility of using graphic tasks for the analysis of patterned or rule-governed activity.
Memory for series of abstract graphic forms was tested using a recognition/ reconstruction procedure in two experiments with 8–9-year-old children. The children either looked at the forms and traced around each of them in turn (VT condition), or looked at the forms for an equivalent length of time and pointed to them (V condition). Memory for the forms, but not their order was improved by tracing. The mechanism responsible for this was investigated by comparing the effects of motor and visual interference interpolated between stimulus presentation and recognition testing. Motor interference was most disruptive in the VT condition while visual interference tended to be most disruptive in the V condition. These results support the proposal that tracing produces a distinct motor memory trace and that this additional source of information aids visual recognition.
A well educated right-handed woman developed severe and stable alexia and agraphia following a circumscribed surgical lesion in the left premotor cortex. The lesion was located in Brodmann's field 6, above Broca's area, in the region traditionally referred to as Exner's area. The alexia and agraphia occurred in a pure form, that is, in the setting of otherwise normal cognitive and neurological function. She was not aphasic or hemiparetic and her visual perception, intellect, memory, oral spelling and drawing were normal. The patterns of impairment of reading and writing closely paralleled one another. Reading of single words and letters was severely impaired, and she was entirely unable to read sentences. She was virtually unable to write recognizable letters, could write no words, and her writing attempts were severely distorted spatially. By contrast, she could easily read all numbers and nonverbal symbols, and she was equally able to write numbers and perform written calculations without difficulty. These striking dissociations provide further evidence of the domain specificity of cognitive/neural representations. They also point to the possible role of premotor cortices in the coactivation of precise sequences of motor and sensory activity patterns involved in reading and writing.
The need for a simply applied quantitative assessment of handedness is discussed and some previous forms reviewed. An inventory of 20 items with a set of instructions and response- and computational-conventions is proposed and the results obtained from a young adult population numbering some 1100 individuals are reported. The separate items are examined from the point of view of sex, cultural and socio-economic factors which might appertain to them and also of their inter-relationship to each other and to the measure computed from them all. Criteria derived from these considerations are then applied to eliminate 10 of the original 20 items and the results recomputed to provide frequency-distribution and cumulative frequency functions and a revised item-analysis. The difference of incidence of handedness between the sexes is discussed.
This paper presents an effective treatment for pure alexia by a type of single-case design, which we termed a "material-control single-case design" [Sugishita et al., Neuropsychologia, Vol. 31, 559-569, 1993]. Two patients with pure alexia were treated using kinesthetic reading (reading by tracing or copying the outline of each letter with the patient's finger). The results clearly demonstrated that both patients significantly improved their reading and copying performances. Their recovery of reading performance arose from improvement in copying. The results of tachistoscopic reading tests suggested that the patient obtained the ability to read without kinesthetic movements.
Computational studies suggest that acquisition of a motor skill involves learning an internal model of the dynamics of the
task, which enables the brain to predict and compensate for mechanical behavior. During the hours that follow completion of
practice, representation of the internal model gradually changes, becoming less fragile with respect to behavioral interference.
Here, functional imaging of the brain demonstrates that within 6 hours after completion of practice, while performance remains
unchanged, the brain engages new regions to perform the task; there is a shift from prefrontal regions of the cortex to the
premotor, posterior parietal, and cerebellar cortex structures. This shift is specific to recall of an established motor skill
and suggests that with the passage of time, there is a change in the neural representation of the internal model and that
this change may underlie its increased functional stability.
Much indirect evidence supports the hypothesis that transformations of mental images are at least in part guided by motor processes, even in the case of images of abstract objects rather than of body parts. For example, rotation may be guided by processes that also prime one to see results of a specific motor action. We directly test the hypothesis by means of a dual-task paradigm in which subjects perform the Cooper-Shepard mental rotation task while executing an unseen motor rotation in a given direction and at a previously-learned speed. Four results support the inference that mental rotation relies on motor processes. First, motor rotation that is compatible with mental rotation results in faster times and fewer errors in the imagery task than when the two rotations are incompatible. Second, the angle through which subjects rotate their mental images, and the angle through which they rotate a joystick handle are correlated, but only if the directions of the two rotations are compatible. Third, motor rotation modifies the classical inverted V-shaped mental rotation response time function, favoring the direction of the motor rotation; indeed, in some cases motor rotation even shifts the location of the minimum of this curve in the direction of the motor rotation. Fourth, the preceding effect is sensitive not only to the direction of the motor rotation, but also to the motor speed. A change in the speed of motor rotation can correspondingly slow down or speed up the mental rotation.
We describe a patient, VSB, whose reading was impaired as a consequence of a left temporal-parietal lesion, whereas writing was relatively preserved. At variance with other pure alexic patients described in the literature, VSB claimed to have become unable to mentally visualise letters and words. Indeed, his performance on a series of tests tapping visual mental imagery for orthographic material was severely impaired. However, performance on the same tests was dramatically ameliorated by allowing VSB to trace each item with his finger. Visual mental imagery for non-orthographic items was comparatively spared. The pattern of dissociation shown by VSB between impaired visual mental imagery and relatively preserved motor-based knowledge for orthographic material lends support to the view that separate codes, respectively based on visual appearance and on motor engrams, may be used to access knowledge of the visual form of letters and words.
In the present fMRI study, we addressed the question as to whether motor-perceptual interactions might be involved in reading. Recognizing the letters encountered when reading is generally assumed to be a purely visual process, yet because we know how to write, we also possess a sensorimotor representation of the letters. Does simply viewing a letter suffice to activate the corresponding motor representation? To answer this question, we asked right-handed subjects first to look at and then to copy single letters or pseudoletters. We established that the visual presentation of letters activated a part of the left premotor cortex (BA6) that was also activated when the letters were being written by the subjects. This premotor zone resembles Exner's area, which is thought to contain the motor programs necessary for producing letters. Visually presented pseudoletters, which had never been written before by the subjects, did not activate this region. These results indicate that the writing motor processes are implicitly evoked when passively observing letters. The cerebral representation of letters is therefore presumably not strictly visual, but based on a multicomponent neural network built up while learning concomitantly to read and write. One of the components might be a sensorimotor one associated with handwriting. This finding shows the existence of close functional relations between the reading and writing processes, and suggests that our reading abilities might be somehow dependent on the way we write.
The time to decide if a letter is normal or backwards (mirror-reversed) increases as the letter is rotated away from the upright. It is widely accepted that this increase in time reflects the mental rotation of the stimulus to the upright orientation in order to determine the mirror-normal status of the stimulus. Although response times tend to be longer for mirrored stimuli than for normal stimuli, the difference is constant across orientation. Little work has been focused on why mirror-image stimuli produce longer response times than normal stimuli. This study examines the question of whether or not mirrored stimuli are rotated in the picture plane at the same time as normal stimuli, and if so, why response times to mirrored stimuli are longer than that for normal stimuli. Both the behavioural and electrophysiological findings suggest that the mirrored stimuli are not only rotated in the picture plane, but that they are subsequently rotated to the normal view. It is this additional rotation that produces, at least in part, the delayed response times for mirror-image stimuli.
In a previous fMRI study on right-handers (Rhrs), we reported that part of the left ventral premotor cortex (BA6) was activated when alphabetical characters were passively observed and that the same region was also involved in handwriting [Longcamp, M., Anton, J. L., Roth, M., & Velay, J. L. (2003). Visual presentation of single letters activates a premotor area involved in writing. NeuroImage, 19, 1492-1500]. We therefore suggested that letter-viewing may induce automatic involvement of handwriting movements. In the present study, in order to confirm this hypothesis, we carried out a similar fMRI experiment on a group of left-handed subjects (Lhrs). We reasoned that if the above assumption was correct, visual perception of letters by Lhrs might automatically activate cortical motor areas coding for left-handed writing movements, i.e., areas located in the right hemisphere. The visual stimuli used here were either single letters, single pseudoletters, or a control stimulus. The subjects were asked to watch these stimuli attentively, and no response was required. The results showed that a ventral premotor cortical area (BA6) in the right hemisphere was specifically activated when Lhrs looked at letters and not at pseudoletters. This right area was symmetrically located with respect to the left one activated under the same circumstances in Rhrs. This finding supports the hypothesis that visual perception of written language evokes covert motor processes. In addition, a bilateral area, also located in the premotor cortex (BA6), but more ventrally and medially, was found to be activated in response to both letters and pseudoletters. This premotor region, which was not activated correspondingly in Rhrs, might be involved in the processing of graphic stimuli, whatever their degree of familiarity.
this report, we show that the improvement in performance persists for at least 5 months, suggesting the formation of long-term motor memories.
Writing practice influences the recognition of letters orientation in preschool children
- M Longcamp
- M T Zerbato-Poudou
- J L Velay
Longcamp, M., Zerbato-Poudou, M. T., & Velay, J. L. (2005b). Writing practice influences the recognition of
letters orientation in preschool children. Acta Psychologica, 119, 67-79.
Writing practice influences the recognition of letters orientation in preschool children
- Longcamp