Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “HANDWRITING”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

The importance of handwriting speed in adult writing.

Handwriting speed is important to the quantity and quality of children's essays. This article reviews research on adult essay writing and lecture note taking that extends this finding to adult writers. For both children and adults, research suggests that greater transcription speed increases automaticity of word production, which in turn lessens the burden on working memory (WM) and enables writers to use the limited capacity of WM for the metacognitive processes needed to create good reader-friendly prose. These findings suggest that models of writing, which emphasize the metacognitive components of writing primarily, should be expanded to include transcription (handwriting automaticity and spelling). The article also evaluates the implications of fluent handwriting to WM, given that even the most fluent handwriting can consume some WM resources and recent research and theory has highlighted the importance of WM to quality writing. Finally, the implications of handwriting and WM to assessment and instruction are discussed.

Cognition↗
PubMed1997

Comparison of cursive models for handwriting instruction.

The efficiency of four different cursive handwriting styles as model alphabets for handwriting instruction of primary school children was compared in a cross-sectional field experiment from Grade 3 to 6 in terms of the average handwriting speed developed by the children and the average rate of convergence of the children's handwriting to the style of their model. It was concluded that styles with regular entry stroke patterns give the steadiest rate of convergence to the model and styles with short ascenders and descenders and strokes with not too high curvatures give the highest handwriting speed.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Problems in developing functional handwriting.

The development of handwriting quality and speed of 407 primary school children was followed from Grade 1 to Grade 5 in a longitudinal experiment. Performance was analyzed to enquire into the extent and bases for handwriting dysfunction. 27% of the children were classified as dysfunctional at the end of Grade 1. At the end of Grade 5 only 13% were so classified. Most children have adequate perception and motor abilities to develop functional handwriting. Dysfunction of handwriting speed can usually be traced to dysfunction of its quality. Dysfunction of quality can be traced to insufficient individualization in the primary instruction in handwriting which leads to a mismatch between the time allocated to teach certain letters to certain children and the time required for these children to learn the form of these letters.

Aptitude↗
PubMed2003

The In Air phenomenon: temporal and spatial correlates of the handwriting process.

From 10 to 30% of elementary school-aged children have handwriting difficulties. Examination of such difficulties is important given the variety of academic, emotional, and social consequences that they can impose. One such common problem is the tendency of children to pause while writing. Thus the objective of this study was to use a computerized digitizer system to examine the tendency of poor writers to pause while writing. Handwriting samples of varying type and length were collected from Grade 3 students, 50 of whom were proficient writers and 50 of whom were poor writers as judged by a questionnaire completed by the classroom teachers and verified by the Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation. Analysis indicated that the so-called pauses are not stationary breaks between the writing of successive segments because letters and words were usually associated with considerable movement of the pen above the writing surface. This In Air writing occurred with significantly greater frequency for poor writers than for the proficient writers in most handwriting tasks. The results suggest possible underlying perceptual-motor difficulties, which could be considered when planning effective handwriting interventions.

Child↗
PubMed2003

Sex, gender role, attribution of pathology, and handwriting tidiness.

An archival study sampled personality test protocols with spontaneous handwriting specimens from 73 men and 168 women for signatures and scores on selected scales from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. Judges applied a 5-point scale to sort signatures for tidiness. Interrater agreement was .93. The mean handwriting tidiness score for men was 1.8 and 2.8 for women, a significant difference of 1 point. Correlations between handwriting tidiness and MMPI-2 scores did not support the hypothesis that erratic handwriting is associated with pathology but scores for gender role correlated significantly with handwriting tidiness. Masculine Gender Role predicted sloppy penmanship and Feminine Gender Role predicted tidy writing, independent of the writers' biological sex.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The influence of ergonomic factors and perceptual-motor abilities on handwriting performance.

Difficulty with handwriting is one of the most frequent reasons that children in the public schools are referred to occupational therapy. Current research on the influence of ergonomic factors, such as pencil grip and pressure, and perceptual-motor factors traditionally believed to affect handwriting, is reviewed. Factors such as visual perception show little relationship to handwriting, whereas tactile-kinesthetic, visual-motor, and motor planning appear to be more closely related to handwriting. By better understanding the ergonomic and perceptual-motor factors that contribute to and influence handwriting, therapists will be better able to design rationally based intervention programs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Interaction of attentional and motor control processes in handwriting.

The interaction between attentional capacity, motor control processes, and strategic adaptations to changing task demands was investigated in handwriting, a continuous (rather than discrete) skilled performance. Twenty-four subjects completed 12 two-minute handwriting samples under instructions stressing speeded handwriting, normal handwriting, or highly legible handwriting. For half of the writing samples, a concurrent auditory monitoring task was imposed. Subjects copied either familiar (English) or unfamiliar (Latin) passages. Writing speed, legibility ratings, errors in writing and in the secondary auditory task, and a derived measure of the average number of characters held in short-term memory during each sample ("planning unit size") were the dependent variables. The results indicated that the ability to adapt to instructions stressing speed or legibility was substantially constrained by the concurrent listening task and by text familiarity. Interactions between instructions, task concurrence, and text familiarity in the legibility ratings, combined with further analyses of planning unit size, indicated that information throughput from temporary storage mechanisms to motor processes mediated the loss of flexibility effect. Overall, the results suggest that strategic adaptations of a skilled performance to changing task circumstances are sensitive to concurrent attentional demands and that departures from "normal" or "modal" performance require attention.

Attention↗
PubMed1986

Alcohol: its effect on handwriting.

A series of research studies was conducted to determine if there would be changes in the handwriting of 35 men and women after they had been drinking. Handwriting samples were taken before the participants had consumed any alcohol and again after the drinking period had ended. Deterioration in the handwriting was charted. Based on this study, the handwriting could not be used in any way to measure accurately the blood alcohol concentration of a writer. The results of the handwriting comparisons are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Drug-induced handwriting changes: an empirical review.

Since handwriting is a highly complex, coordinated motor activity, handwrits of pharmacological agents. Its potential has been most evident in research involving therapeutic administrations of anti-psychotic an anti-Parkinsonian drugs, from which consistent and systematic handwriting changes have been observed. This relationship has been found to be particularly significant among the anti-psychotics, since the onset of these graphomotor alterations appear to mark the optmal dose of the drug. Consistent and systematic handwriting changes have not been as evident in inivestigations of drugs used in a nontherapeutic atmosphere. Psychiatric assessments of subjects in ths type of research provided data which indicated that psychological stability may be a factor influencing the susceptibility of one's handwriting to drug induced changes.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Handwriting as a correlate of extraversion.

The validity of graphologists' claims that handwriting is a measure of extraversion was examined in this study. Three handwriting measures, line slope, letter slant, and letter width were chosen, and the relationship between these measures and extraversion as measured by the Eysenck Personality Inventory was studied. The subjects were 58 tertiary students. No significant correlations between the handwriting measures and extraversion were found, nor were there significant intercorrelations between the three handwriting measures. Thus the results did not support the claim that the three handwriting measures were valid indices of extraversion.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1996

Computational analysis of open loop handwriting movements in Parkinson's disease: a rapid method to detect dopamimetic effects.

We used a computational analysis of open loop handwriting movements and a clinical rating scale for monitoring the effect of apomorphine in 16 patients with early untreated parkinsonism [subsequently L-DOPA responsive, probable Parkinson's disease (PD)], six patients with long-standing PD with L-DOPA associated motor fluctuations, and seven patients with known L-DOPA unresponsive parkinsonism. Subjects were instructed to write fluently concentric circles of approximately 12 mm in diameter. Movements were recorded for two periods of 3 s each, using a digitizing tablet. Mean peak velocity (Vmax) and mean peak acceleration (Amax) were determined. In addition, two sensitive indices describing the degree of automation of handwriting were derived: (a) NCV, calculated as the mean Number of Changes in direction of Velocity per half circle, and (b) NCA, the mean Number of Changes in the direction of Acceleration. Clinical rating was performed according to the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III (UPDRS III). After apomorphine injection, the patients with early untreated probable PD showed significant improvement of Vmax, Amax, NCV, NCA, and UPDRS III scores. Likewise, the patients with long-standing PD improved significantly in all kinematic parameters and UPDRS III scores. Patients with L-DOPA unresponsive parkinsonism failed to change significantly in any of the parameters tested. These observations suggest that the computer-assisted analysis of automated handwriting movements can be used as an objective quick method for quantifying dopamimetic effects on the kinematics of handwriting movements in parkinsonian patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Dynamical encoding of cursive handwriting.

A model-based approach to on-line cursive handwriting analysis and recognition is presented and evaluated. In this model, on-line handwriting is considered as a modulation of a simple cycloidal pen motion, described by two coupled oscillations with a constant linear drift along the line of the writing. By slow modulations of the amplitudes and phase lags of the two oscillators, a general pen trajectory can be efficiently encoded. These parameters are then quantized into a small number of values without altering the writing intelligibility. A general procedure for the estimation and quantization of these cycloidal motion parameters for arbitrary handwriting is presented. The result is a discrete motor control representation of the continuous pen motion, via the quantized levels of the model parameters. This motor control representation enables successful word spotting and matching of cursive scripts. Our experiments clearly indicate the potential of this dynamic representation for complete cursive handwriting recognition.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2001

The impact of tricyclic antidepressants and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors on handwriting movements of patients with depression.

RATIONALE: Psychomotor retardation is a common symptom of patients with major depressive disorder. While a variety of clinical examinations using different techniques have been undertaken to assess the motor component of psychomotor retardation in depression, the effects of antidepressants on psychomotor functions have been examined less extensively. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of various pharmacological treatments on handwriting movements of patients with depression. METHODS: Kinematic data of automated handwriting movements of 18 depressed patients receiving tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), 18 patients on selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and 18 healthy subjects was recorded and analysed. Groups were matched according to age, sex, handedness and education level. For the assessment of fine motor movements, a digitising tablet was used. Subjects were asked to perform a simple writing task. Movement time, velocity and acceleration of the handwriting movements were measured. RESULTS: Statistical analysis of writing movements revealed motor slowing in patients receiving TCAs. In comparison with both healthy subjects and patients receiving SSRIs, the TCA group displayed an increased movement time, reduced automation of handwriting, lower maximum velocities and reduced acceleration of descending strokes. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest either that TCAs have adverse effects on motor functioning or that they are less effective in the treatment of motor retardation than SSRIs.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Neuromotor noise and poor handwriting in children.

In this article Power Spectral Density Analysis of the velocity profile of handwriting tasks is applied to estimate movement noise in poor and proficient writers. It is hypothesized that poor writers are less effective in the inhibition of neuromotor noise. Evidence for this theory is found in an analysis of electronically sampled handwriting movements of 48 children from grade 2, 3 and 4 (mean ages 8, 9 and 10, resp.). Twenty-four were poor and 24 were good writers, as judged by their teachers. Subjects were matched on age, sex, handedness and educational level. They performed handwriting tasks consisting of simple garlands and arcades, or meaningless words built from the letters 'e', 'n' and 'm'. In the tasks stroke accuracy, size and rotational direction were systematically varied. The results reveal that movement times were not different between the two groups, but poor writers and good writers used different movement strategies. Movements of the less proficient children were larger and were produced with higher movement velocities. Power Spectral Density Analysis disclosed that handwriting movements of poor writers were substantially more noisy than those of proficient writers, with a consistent peaking of the noise energy in that region of the spectrum which is representative for neuromotor tremor. Also, poor writers were less successful in adapting the level of noise to increased accuracy demands of the tasks. The results support the view that deviant biomechanical strategies might be responsible for deficient motor performance.

Child↗
PubMed1993

Effects of lexicality and trigram frequency on handwriting production in children and adults.

Recent studies of handwriting have shown that linguistic variables, such as phonology or lexicality, influence various aspects of the production of letter sequences. Following a previous experiment, in which a facilitation effect of words over pseudowords has been documented both in children and in adults, an experiment is reported concerning the effect of lexicality and of trigram frequency on handwriting production at different levels of handwriting mastery. In this experiment, 8- to 12-year-old children and adults were asked to write words, pseudowords ending with a frequent trigram, and pseudowords ending with a nonfrequent trigram. Results show that in adults there is a facilitation effect of words over pseudowords and of frequent trigrams over nonfrequent trigrams. In children, no clear effect of lexicality or trigram frequency could be observed. Developmental trends show that major changes in children's handwriting occur between 8 and 10 years, whereas only minor modifications are observed between 10 and 12 years.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The effect of caffeine on handwriting movements in skilled writers.

In laboratory tasks, caffeine has been shown to improve psychomotor performance. The aim of the present experiment was to assess the effects of caffeine on a skilled everyday life task in habitual caffeine consumers. The assessment of handwriting movements of 20 adults was performed following the administration of 0mg/kg (placebo), 1.5mg/kg, 3.0mg/kg or 4.5mg/kg of caffeine. A digitising tablet was used for the assessment of fine motor movements. Participants were asked to perform a simple writing task. Kinematic analysis of handwriting movements showed that, in comparison to placebo administration, high doses of caffeine (i.e., 4.5mg/kg) can produce improvements in handwriting as indicated by more fluent handwriting movements as well as an increase in maximum velocity and maximum positive and negative accelerations. The results suggest that higher doses of caffeine can enhance psychomotor performance.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Handwriting and speech changes across the levodopa cycle in Parkinson's disease.

Levodopa treatment is used to reduce rigidity and bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease (PD). This study tracked the handwriting and speech performance of 10 PD patients at 30-minute intervals across one levodopa drug cycle to evaluate levodopa-related changes in temporal and spatial measures that are assumed to correspond to changes in rigidity and bradykinesia. The handwriting measures included l and e upstroke duration and size. The speech measures included duration of the vowels /i/, /u/, /ae/, and /[symbol: see text]/ and the quadrilateral area produced by these vowels, and the slope of the diphthong /aI/. Levodopa significantly improved handwriting upstroke duration but not upstroke size. Speech measures did not show a significant trend across the levodopa cycle. The results suggest that upstroke duration is sensitive to the presumed effects of levodopa and that handwriting analysis may hold promise in helping to estimate an optimum levodopa regimen for PD patients.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Handwriting changes due to aging and Parkinson's syndrome.

Wills signed by elderly people are often contested on the grounds the the signature is different from their earlier specimen signatures. Neurological disease, which can affect handwriting, is very common and progressive amongst elderly people. Handwriting change due to old age and neurological disease is poorly understood. To better understand this subject, we carried out a large methodical study based on almost 200 handwriting specimens of Parkinson patients and age-matched controls. Interestingly, our findings indicate that some of the handwriting changes which occur in these populations tend to resemble forgery indicia although upon close inspection they are distinguishable from them. Thus, document examiners are urged to exercise caution in assessing purported forgeries on wills and other documents signed of written during older age or a writer suffering from neurological disease.

Adult↗