The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children

Abstract

In an age of increasing technology, the possibility that typing on a keyboard will replace handwriting raises questions about the future usefulness of handwriting skills. Here we present evidence that brain activation during letter perception is influenced in different, important ways by previous handwriting of letters versus previous typing or tracing of those same letters. Preliterate, five-year old children printed, typed, or traced letters and shapes, then were shown images of these stimuli while undergoing functional MRI scanning. A previously documented "reading circuit" was recruited during letter perception only after handwriting-not after typing or tracing experience. These findings demonstrate that handwriting is important for the early recruitment in letter processing of brain regions known to underlie successful reading. Handwriting therefore may facilitate reading acquisition in young children.

Keywords: Brain; Children; Development; Reading; Writing; fMRI.

Figures

Fig. 1

Results of the region-of-interest analyses in the bilateral fusiform gyrus. Percent BOLD signal change during perception as a function of training condition in all children is depicted. Abbreviations: TY: type; TR: trace; DR: draw (print); CTL: control; Let: letters; SH: shapes. All letter training conditions are depicted in blue, shape conditions in orange. Error bars depict standard error of the mean. Data is depicted from the (a) left anterior fusiform gyrus, (b) right anterior fusiform, (c) left posterior fusiform, and (d) left posterior fusiform. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).

Fig. 2

Voxel-wise whole brain contrast between training printing letters and drawing shapes. Figure depicts significant activation in the bilateral precentral gyri and the bilateral inferior parietal lobe. (A) Horizontal section Z=55; (b) sagittal section; (c) coronal section, Y=−15. See Table 1 for full Talairach co-ordinates.

Fig. 3

Voxel-wise whole brain contrast of (a) printed letter trainings4typed letter training, depicting the left IFG activation and (b) the left ACC activation. Contrast of printed letter training4traced letter training is depicted in (c) showing the IPL and SPL activation and (d) depicts the traced letter training4-typed letter training. See Table 1 for Talairach coordinates.